title: Seeds of Locally Aligned Motion and Stress Coordinate a Collective Cell Migration.
abstract: We find how collective migration emerges from mechanical information transfer between cells. Local alignment of cell velocity and mechanical stress orientation-a phenomenon dubbed "plithotaxis"-plays a crucial role in inducing coordinated migration. Leader cells at the monolayer edge better align velocity and stress to migrate faster toward the open space. Local seeds of enhanced motion then generate stress on neighboring cells to guide their migration. Stress-induced motion propagates into the monolayer as well as along the monolayer boundary to generate increasingly larger clusters of coordinately migrating cells that move faster with enhanced alignment of velocity and stress. Together, our analysis provides a model of long-range mechanical communication between cells, in which plithotaxis translates local mechanical fluctuations into globally collective migration of entire tissues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; Department of Bioinformatics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. Electronic address: assafzar@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Assaf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zaritsky
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; Department of Bioinformatics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
authors.forename: Erik S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Welf
authors.affiliation: Cell Biology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Yun-Yu
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.affiliation: Cell Biology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Angeles Rabadán
authors.affiliation: Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, ICREA and University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Serra-Picamal
authors.affiliation: Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, ICREA and University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Trepat
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; Department of Bioinformatics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. Electronic address: gaudenz.danuser@utsouthwestern.edu.
authors.forename: Gaudenz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Danuser
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002465:Cell Movement; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology; D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D057054:Molecular Imaging; D013314:Stress, Mechanical