title: A screen for morphological complexity identifies regulators of switch-like transitions between discrete cell shapes.
abstract: The way in which cells adopt different morphologies is not fully understood. Cell shape could be a continuous variable or restricted to a set of discrete forms. We developed quantitative methods to describe cell shape and show that Drosophila haemocytes in culture are a heterogeneous mixture of five discrete morphologies. In an RNAi screen of genes affecting the morphological complexity of heterogeneous cell populations, we found that most genes regulate the transition between discrete shapes rather than generating new morphologies. In particular, we identified a subset of genes, including the tumour suppressor PTEN, that decrease the heterogeneity of the population, leading to populations enriched in rounded or elongated forms. We show that these genes have a highly conserved function as regulators of cell shape in both mouse and human metastatic melanoma cells.
authors.affiliation: NCI Center for Modeling Cancer Development, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, 6670 Bertner Avenue, R6 South, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Amine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sadok
authors.forename: Heba
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sailem
authors.forename: Afshan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Fuhai
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Mar Arias
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Alexis R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Barr
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Perrimon
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: Stephen T C
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bakal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D048430:Cell Shape; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D005820:Genetic Testing; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary*; D051379:Mice; D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase / Q000235:genetics; D010641:Phenotype; D034622:RNA Interference; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase