Journal
JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY
Volume 204, Issue 4, Pages 575-589Publisher
ROCKEFELLER UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1083/jcb.201307070
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences [GM079340, GM102803]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Actomyosin contraction generates mechanical forces that influence cell and tissue structure. During convergent extension in Drosophila melanogaster, the spatially regulated activity of the myosin activator Rho-kinase promotes actomyosin contraction at specific planar cell boundaries to produce polarized cell rearrangement. The mechanisms that direct localized Rho-kinase activity are not well understood. We show that Rho GTPase recruits Rho-kinase to adherens junctions and is required for Rho-kinase planar polarity. Shroom, an asymmetrically localized actin- and Rho-kinase binding protein, amplifies Rho-kinase and myosin II planar polarity and junctional localization downstream of Rho signaling. In Shroom mutants, Rho-kinase and myosin II achieve reduced levels of planar polarity, resulting in decreased junctional tension, a disruption of multicellular rosette formation, and defective convergent extension. These results indicate that Rho GTPase activity is required to establish a planar polarized actomyosin network, and the Shroom actin-binding protein enhances myosin contractility locally to generate robust mechanical forces during axis elongation.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available