Transition of responsive mechanosensitive elements from focal adhesions to adherens junctions on epithelial differentiation.

ABSTRACT: The skin's epidermis is a multilayered epithelial tissue and the first line of defense against mechanical stress. Its barrier function depends on an integrated assembly and reorganization of cell-matrix and cell-cell junctions in the basal layer and on different intercellular junctions in suprabasal layers. However, how mechanical stress is recognized and which adhesive and cytoskeletal components are involved are poorly understood. Here, we subjected keratinocytes to cyclic stress in the presence or absence of intercellular junctions. Both states not only recognized but also responded to strain by reorienting actin filaments perpendicular to the applied force. Using different keratinocyte mutant strains that altered the mechanical link of the actin cytoskeleton to either cell-matrix or ce

SUBMITTER: Noethel B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6249805 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature