Persistent cell migration emerges from a coupling between protrusion dynamics and polarized trafficking
Abstract
Migrating cells present a variety of paths, from random to highly directional ones. While random movement can be explained by basal intrinsic activity, persistent movement requires stable polarization. Here, we quantitatively address emergence of persistent migration in RPE1 cells over long timescales. By live-cell imaging and dynamic micropatterning, we demonstrate that the Nucleus-Golgi axis aligns with direction of migration leading to efficient cell movement. We show that polarized trafficking is directed towards protrusions with a 20 min delay, and that migration becomes random after disrupting internal cell organization. Eventually, we prove that localized optogenetic Cdc42 activation orients the Nucleus-Golgi axis. Our work suggests that polarized trafficking stabilizes the protrusive activity of the cell, while protrusive activity orients this polarity axis, leading to persistent cell migration. Using a minimal physical model, we show that this feedback is sufficient to recapitulate the quantitative properties of cell migration in the timescale of hours.
Data availability
Source data files with numerical data and Source Code for all the graphs in the figures are provided as a zip supplementary file attached to each figure in this submission. Raw imaging data for all the figures are available in the BioImage Archive repository at https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-BIAD365 with BioStudies accession number S-BIAD365.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Programme doctoral Interface pour le Vivant
- Kotryna Vaidžiulytė
Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (FDT201904008167)
- Kotryna Vaidžiulytė
Labex CelTisPhyBio (ANR-10-LBX-0038)
- Kristine Schauer
- Mathieu Coppey
Labex and Equipex IPGG (ANR-10-NANO0207)
- Mathieu Coppey
Idex Paris Science et Lettres (ANR-10-IDEX-0001-02 PSL)
- Kristine Schauer
- Mathieu Coppey
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Kristine Schauer
- Mathieu Coppey
Institut Curie
- Kristine Schauer
- Mathieu Coppey
French National Research Infrastructure France-BioImaging (ANR-10-INBS-04)
- Anne-Sophie Macé
- Mathieu Coppey
Institut Convergences Q-life (ANR-17-CONV-0005)
- Mathieu Coppey
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2022, Vaidžiulytė et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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