Stevens, A. C. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2022

A mathematical model of calcium signals around laser-induced epithelial wounds

Cells around epithelial wounds must first become aware of the wounds presence in order to initiate the wound healing process. An initial response to an epithelial wound is an increase in cytosolic calcium followed by complex calcium signaling events. While these calcium signals are driven by both physical and chemical wound responses, cells around the wound will all be equipped with the same cellular components to produce and interact with the calcium signals. Here, we have developed a mathematical model in the context of laser-ablation of the Drosophila pupal notum that integrates tissue-level damage models with a cellular calcium signaling toolkit. The model replicates experiments in the contexts of control wounds as well as knockdowns of specific cellular components, but it also provides new insights that are not easily accessible experimentally. The model suggests that cell-cell variability is necessary to produce calcium signaling events observed in experiments, it quantifies calcium concentrations during wound-induced signaling events, and it shows that intercellular transfer of the molecule IP3 is required to coordinate calcium signals across distal cells around the wound. The mathematical model developed here serves as a framework for quantitative studies in both wound signaling and calcium signaling in the Drosophila system.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2020

A protease-initiated model of wound detection

Wounds trigger surrounding cells to initiate repair, but it is unclear how cells detect wounds. The first known wound response of epithelial cells is a dramatic increase in cytosolic calcium, which occurs within seconds, but it is not known what initiates this calcium response. Specifically, is there an instructive signal detected by cells surrounding wounds? Here we identify a signal transduction pathway in epithelial cells initiated by the G-protein coupled receptor Methuselah-like 10 (Mthl10) activated around wounds by its cytokine ligands, Growth-blocking peptides (Gbps). Gbps are present in unwounded tissue in latent form, requiring proteolytic activation for signaling. Multiple protease families can activate Gbps, suggesting it acts as a detector to signal the presence of several proteases. We present experimental and computational evidence that proteases released during cell lysis serve as the instructive signal from wounds, liberating Gbp ligands to diffuse to the Mthl10 receptors on epithelial cells and activate downstream release of calcium. Thus, the presence of a nearby wound is signaled by the activation of a Gbp protease detector, sensitive to multiple proteases released after cellular damage.

cell biology↗