REMOTE CONTROL OF APICAL EPITHELIAL SHEET CONTRACTION BY LASER ABLATION OR NANO-PERFUSION: ACUTE STIMULUS TRIGGERS RAPID REMODELING OF F-ACTIN NETWORK IN APICAL CORTEX

摘要

Apical contraction is the major tissue movement during development. We present acute methods for inducing apical contraction in epithelia by either laser ablation or nano-perfusion (Figure 3A). Studies presented here on the molecular mechanism support a physical model for apical contraction in epithelial cells (Figure 3B). Our contraction results emphasize the need for future actin remodeling studies and are echoed by a recently suggested ratchet-mechanism [5]. Here, we demonstrate the utility of external methods to understand how cells generate forces and induce a rapid change in their morphology, yet maintain homeostasis. These studies underscore the need to understand the force generating machinery in a cell and provide external approaches to control and modulate this complex mechanism.