title: Cortical contractility triggers a stochastic switch to fast amoeboid cell motility.
abstract: 3D amoeboid cell migration is central to many developmental and disease-related processes such as cancer metastasis. Here, we identify a unique prototypic amoeboid cell migration mode in early zebrafish embryos, termed stable-bleb migration. Stable-bleb cells display an invariant polarized balloon-like shape with exceptional migration speed and persistence. Progenitor cells can be reversibly transformed into stable-bleb cells irrespective of their primary fate and motile characteristics by increasing myosin II activity through biochemical or mechanical stimuli. Using a combination of theory and experiments, we show that, in stable-bleb cells, cortical contractility fluctuations trigger a stochastic switch into amoeboid motility, and a positive feedback between cortical flows and gradients in contractility maintains stable-bleb cell polarization. We further show that rearward cortical flows drive stable-bleb cell migration in various adhesive and non-adhesive environments, unraveling a highly versatile amoeboid migration phenotype.
authors: Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria. Electronic address: ruprecht.verena@gmail.com.
authors: Verena
authors: V
authors: Ruprecht
authors: Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria; Division of Biomedical Physics, Innsbruck Medical University, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Wieser
authors: Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes, CNRS/Université Paris-Diderot, UMR 7057, 75204 Paris Cedex 13, France.
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Callan-Jones
authors: Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Smutny
authors: Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria.
authors: Hitoshi
authors: H
authors: Morita
authors: Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria.
authors: Keisuke
authors: K
authors: Sako
authors: Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria.
authors: Vanessa
authors: V
authors: Barone
authors: Division of Biomedical Physics, Innsbruck Medical University, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors: Monika
authors: M
authors: Ritsch-Marte
authors: Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Sixt
authors: Laboratoire Jean Perrin and Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée, CNRS/Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005 Paris, France.
authors: Raphaël
authors: R
authors: Voituriez
authors: Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria. Electronic address: heisenberg@ist.ac.at.
authors: Carl-Philipp
authors: CP
authors: Heisenberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002465:Cell Movement; D016764:Cell Polarity; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000166:cytology*; D005775:Gastrula / Q000166:cytology*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology*