Biology subjects

Roux, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Roux, A..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2018

Curvature Dependent constraints drive remodeling of epithelia

Epithelial tissues are essential to keep a proper barrier for the organism. They usually have highly curved shapes, such as tubules or cysts. However, interplays between the environment and cell mechanical properties to set the shape are not known. In this study, we encapsulated two epithelial cell lineages, MDCK and J3B1A, into hollow alginate tubes and grew them under cylindrical confinement. Once formed, the epithelial MDCK layer detached from the alginate shell, while J3B1A layer remained adherent. Detachment resulted from contractile forces within cell layers that pulled cells away from the shell. We concluded that J3B1A cells have lower contractility than MDCK cells. As the pulling forces depend on the radius of the tube, we induced detachment of J3B1A cells by reducing the size of the hollow tube by two. Moreover, in bent tubes, detachment was more pronounced on the outer side of the turn, while extrusion occurred in the inner side, further highlighting the coupling between curvature and cell contractility.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2018

Membrane bending energy and tension govern mitochondrial division

During mitochondrial fission, key molecular and cellular factors assemble on the outer mitochondrial membrane, where they coordinate to generate constriction. Constriction sites can eventually divide, or reverse upon disassembly of the machinery. However, a role for membrane tension in mitochondrial fission, although speculated, has remained undefined. We captured the dynamics of constricting mitochondria in mammalian cells using live-cell structured illumination microscopy (SIM). By analyzing the diameters of tubules that emerge from mitochondria and implementing a fluorescence lifetime-based mitochondrial membrane tension sensor, we discovered that mitochondria are indeed under tension. Under perturbations that reduce mitochondrial tension, constrictions initiate at the same rate, but are less likely to divide. We propose a model based on our estimates of mitochondrial membrane tension and bending energy in living cells which accounts for the observed probability distribution for mitochondrial constrictions to divide.

biophysics↗