Principal Investigator Adam Martin
Cells that undergo apical constriction during gastrulation do not do so in isolation. Greater than 1,000 cells undergo apical constriction in the ventral furrow and these cells are connected to each other through E-cadherin containing adherens junctions. We have found that adherens junctions are required to link actomyosin fibers into a supracellular meshwork and that this meshwork is required to generate tensile force across the tissue. Using a laser to cut actomyosin fibers in the meshwork, we measured an anisotropy in this tissue-level tension and showed that this tension influences the direction in which cells constrict. This illustrates how mechanical forces influence individual cell behavior in a tissue. Our lab is interested in how this supracellular meshwork is formed and how forces are propagated between the cells of a tissue. In addition, we are interested in how forces generated at the apex of an epithelial cell are transmitted basally to influence overall cell shape.