title: Ca2+ lightning conveys cell-cell contact information inside the cells.
abstract: Cells communicate with each other to form organized structures by cell-cell adhesion and cell-cell repulsion, but it remains to be clarified how cell-cell contact information is converted into intracellular signals. Here, we show that cells in contact with neighbouring cells generate local transient intracellular Ca(2+) signals (Ca(2+) lightning). Ca(2+) lightning was observed near cell-cell contact regions and was not observed in the central regions of cells or in solitary cells that were not in contact with other cells. We also show that Ca(2+) lightning is able to regulate cell-cell repulsion by means of PYK2, a Ca(2+)-activated protein tyrosine kinase, which induces focal adhesion disassembly in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner. These results show that cell-cell contact information might be transmitted by Ca(2+) lightning to regulate intracellular events.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashido
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Kenzo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirose
authors.forename: Masamitsu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iino
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D020013:Calcium Signaling; D002450:Cell Communication; D002465:Cell Movement; D051418:Focal Adhesion Kinase 2 / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D022001:Focal Adhesions / Q000378:metabolism; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D051381:Rats; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D051418:Focal Adhesion Kinase 2; D002118:Calcium