title: Coordinated waves of actomyosin flow and apical cell constriction immediately after wounding.
abstract: Epithelial wound healing relies on tissue movements and cell shape changes. Our work shows that, immediately after wounding, there was a dramatic cytoskeleton remodeling consisting of a pulse of actomyosin filaments that assembled in cells around the wound edge and flowed from cell to cell toward the margin of the wound. We show that this actomyosin flow was regulated by Diaphanous and ROCK and that it elicited a wave of apical cell constriction that culminated in the formation of the leading edge actomyosin cable, a structure that is essential for wound closure. Calcium signaling played an important role in this process, as its intracellular concentration increased dramatically immediately after wounding, and down-regulation of transient receptor potential channel M, a stress-activated calcium channel, also impaired the actomyosin flow. Lowering the activity of Gelsolin, a known calcium-activated actin filament-severing protein, also impaired the wound response, indicating that cleaving the existing actin filament network is an important part of the cytoskeleton remodeling process.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Antunes
authors.forename: Telmo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: João V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Cordeiro
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jacinto
mesh_terms: D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D000205:Actomyosin / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D016880:Anisotropy; D001692:Biological Transport; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D020013:Calcium Signaling; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D000080865:Formins; D018260:Gelsolin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D058105:Polymerization; D011679:Pupa / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D050053:TRPM Cation Channels / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*; D054460:rho-Associated Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000097573:Red Fluorescent Protein
chemical_list: D000205:Actomyosin; D002118:Calcium; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D000080865:Formins; D018260:Gelsolin; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D050053:TRPM Cation Channels; D054460:rho-Associated Kinases; D000097573:Red Fluorescent Protein; C551904:TRPM protein, Drosophila; C106890:diaphanous protein, Drosophila