Stochastic contraction of myosin minifilaments drives evolution of microridge protrusion patterns in epithelial cells.

ABSTRACT: Actin-based protrusions vary in morphology, stability, and arrangement on cell surfaces. Microridges are laterally elongated protrusions on mucosal epithelial cells, where they form evenly spaced, mazelike patterns that dynamically remodel by fission and fusion. To characterize how microridges form their highly ordered, subcellular patterns and investigate the mechanisms driving fission and fusion, we imaged microridges in the maturing skin of zebrafish larvae. After their initial development, microridge spacing and alignment became increasingly well ordered. Imaging F-actin and non-muscle myosin II (NMII) revealed that microridge fission and fusion were associated with local NMII activity in the apical cortex. Inhibiting NMII blocked fission and fusion rearrangements, reduced microridge d

SUBMITTER: van Loon AP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8351741 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature