Open AccessThe Role of Tricellulin in Epithelial Jamming and Unjamming via Segmentation of Tricellular Junctions
Author(s) -
Lohmann Sophie,
Giampietro Costanza,
Pramotton Francesca M.,
AlNuaimi Dunja,
Poli Alessandro,
Maiuri Paolo,
Poulikakos Dimos,
Ferrari Aldo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.388
H-Index - 100
ISSN - 2198-3844
DOI - 10.1002/advs.202001213
Subject(s) - microbiology and biotechnology , tight junction , motility , biology , multicellular organism , epithelium , epithelial tissue , claudin , adherens junction , cell , cadherin , genetics
Abstract Collective cellular behavior in confluent monolayers supports physiological and pathological processes of epithelial development, regeneration, and carcinogenesis. Here, the attainment of a mature and static tissue configuration or the local reactivation of cell motility involve a dynamic regulation of the junctions established between neighboring cells. Tricellular junctions (tTJs), established at vertexes where three cells meet, are ideally located to control cellular shape and coordinate multicellular movements. However, their function in epithelial tissue dynamic remains poorly defined. To investigate the role of tTJs establishment and maturation in the jamming and unjamming transitions of epithelial monolayers, a semi‐automatic image‐processing pipeline is developed and validated enabling the unbiased and spatially resolved determination of the tTJ maturity state based on the localization of fluorescent reporters. The software resolves the variation of tTJ maturity accompanying collective transitions during tissue maturation, wound healing, and upon the adaptation to osmolarity changes. Altogether, this work establishes junctional maturity at tricellular contacts as a novel biological descriptor of collective responses in epithelial monolayers.