Vimentin Intermediate Filaments Template Microtubule Networks to Enhance Persistence in Cell Polarity and Directed Migration.
Increased expression of vimentin intermediate filaments (VIFs) enhances directed cell migration, but the mechanism behind VIFs' effect on motility is not understood. VIFs interact with microtubules, whose organization contributes to polarity maintenance in migrating cells. Here, we characterize the dynamic coordination of VIF and microtubule networks in wounded monolayers of retinal pigment epithelial cells. By genome editing, we fluorescently labeled endogenous vimentin and α-tubulin, and we developed computational image analysis to delineate architecture and interactions of the two networks. Our results show that VIFs assemble an ultrastructural copy of the previously polarized microtubule network. Because the VIF network is long-lived compared to the microtubule network, VIFs template future microtubule growth along previous microtubule tracks, thus providing a feedback mechanism that maintains cell polarity. VIF knockdown prevents cells from polarizing and migrating properly during wound healing. We suggest that VIFs' templating function establishes a memory in microtubule organization that enhances persistence in cell polarization in general and migration in particular.
Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX 75235, USA.
Zhuo
Z
Gan
Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX 75235, USA; Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Liya
L
Ding
Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX 75235, USA; Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Christoph J
CJ
Burckhardt
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
Jason
J
Lowery
Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX 75235, USA.
Assaf
A
Zaritsky
Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Karlyndsay
K
Sitterley
Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Andressa
A
Mota
Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Nancy
N
Costigliola
Department of Genetics, Cell Biology & Development and Center for Genome Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Colby G
CG
Starker
Department of Genetics, Cell Biology & Development and Center for Genome Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Daniel F
DF
Voytas
Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Jessica
J
Tytell
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
Robert D
RD
Goldman
Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX 75235, USA; Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: gaudenz.danuser@utsouthwestern.edu.
Gaudenz
G
Danuser
D002465:Cell Movement; D016764:Cell Polarity; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003599:Cytoskeleton; D007382:Intermediate Filaments; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D008870:Microtubules; D014404:Tubulin; D014746:Vimentin
D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D014404:Tubulin; D014746:Vimentin
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