Tunneling nanotube formation is driven by Eps8/IRSp53-dependent linear actin polymerization

ABSTRACT: Tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) connect distant cells and mediate cargo transfer for intercellular communication in physiological and pathological contexts. How cells generate these actin-mediated protrusions to span lengths beyond those attainable by canonical filopodia remains unknown. Through a combination of micropatterning, microscopy and optical tweezer-based approaches, we demonstrate that tunneling nanotubes formed through the outward extension of actin achieve distances greater than the mean length of filopodia, and that branched Arp2/3-dependent pathways attenuate the extent to which actin polymerizes in nanotubes, thus limiting their occurrence. Proteomic analysis using Epidermal growth factor receptor kinase substrate 8 (Eps8) as a positive effector of tunneling nanotubes showed tha

SUBMITTER: J., Michael Henderson 

PROVIDER: S-SCDT-10_15252-EMBJ_2023113761 | biostudies-other |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other