Noncentrosomal microtubules and type II myosins potentiate epidermal cell adhesion and barrier formation.

ABSTRACT: During differentiation, many cells reorganize their microtubule cytoskeleton into noncentrosomal arrays. Although these microtubules are likely organized to meet the physiological roles of their tissues, their functions in most cell types remain unexplored. In the epidermis, differentiation induces the reorganization of microtubules to cell-cell junctions in a desmosome-dependent manner. Here, we recapitulate the reorganization of microtubules in cultured epidermal cells. Using this reorganization assay, we show that cortical microtubules recruit myosin II to the cell cortex in order to engage adherens junctions, resulting in an increase in mechanical integrity of the cell sheets. Cortical microtubules and engaged adherens junctions, in turn, increase tight junction function. In vivo, disr

SUBMITTER: Sumigray KD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3483132 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature