title: Bistable front dynamics in a contractile medium: Travelling wave fronts and cortical advection define stable zones of RhoA signaling at epithelial adherens junctions.
abstract: Mechanical coherence of cell layers is essential for epithelia to function as tissue barriers and to control active tissue dynamics during morphogenesis. RhoA signaling at adherens junctions plays a key role in this process by coupling cadherin-based cell-cell adhesion together with actomyosin contractility. Here we propose and analyze a mathematical model representing core interactions involved in the spatial localization of junctional RhoA signaling. We demonstrate how the interplay between biochemical signaling through positive feedback, combined with diffusion on the cell membrane and mechanical forces generated in the cortex, can determine the spatial distribution of RhoA signaling at cell-cell junctions. This dynamical mechanism relies on the balance between a propagating bistable signal that is opposed by an advective flow generated by an actomyosin stress gradient. Experimental observations on the behavior of the system when contractility is inhibited are in qualitative agreement with the predictions of the model.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Division of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Rashmi
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0510-7515
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Priya
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Division of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Guillermo A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Division of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Srikanth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Budnar
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Division of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Bipul R
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8494-5877
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Acharya
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, United States of America.
authors.forename: Andras
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2694-5163
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Czirok
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Division of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Alpha S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Yap
authors.affiliation: School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Zoltan
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3236-9278
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Neufeld
mesh_terms: D000205:Actomyosin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D022005:Adherens Junctions / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D020742:rhoA GTP-Binding Protein / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; D000205:Actomyosin; D020742:rhoA GTP-Binding Protein