Desmosome-anchored intermediate filaments facilitate tension-sensitive RhoA signaling for epithelial homeostasis.

ABSTRACT: Epithelia are subject to diverse forms of mechanical stress during development and post-embryonic life. They possess multiple mechanisms to preserve tissue integrity against tensile forces, which characteristically involve specialized cell-cell adhesion junctions coupled to the cytoskeleton. Desmosomes connect to intermediate filaments (IF) via desmoplakin (DP) ^1,2 , while the E-cadherin complex links to the actomyosin cytoskeleton in adherens junctions (AJ) ³ . These distinct adhesion-cytoskeleton systems support different strategies to preserve epithelial integrity, especially against tensile stress. IFs coupled to desmosomes can passively respond to tension by strain-stiffening ^4â€"10 , whereas for AJs a variety of mechanotransduction mechanisms associat

SUBMITTER: Nanavati BN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9980054 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature