Live imaging molecular changes in junctional tension upon VE-cadherin in zebrafish. Issue 1 (December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lagendijk, Anne; Gomez, Guillermo; Baek, Sungmin; Hesselson, Daniel; Hughes, William; Paterson, Scott; Conway, Daniel; Belting, Heinz-Georg; Affolter, Markus; Smith, Kelly; Schwartz, Martin; Yap, Alpha; Hogan, Benjamin
• Is Part Of: Nature communications. Volume 8:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 12
• Publication Date: 2017-12
• Subjects: Biology -- Periodicals; Physical sciences -- Periodicals; 505
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01325-6
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2041-1723

Abstract

Abstract Forces play diverse roles in vascular development, homeostasis and disease. VE-cadherin at endothelial cell-cell junctions links the contractile acto-myosin cytoskeletons of adjacent cells, serving as a tension-transducer. To explore tensile changes across VE-cadherin in live zebrafish, we tailored an optical biosensor approach, originally established in vitro. We validate localization and function of a VE-cadherin tension sensor (TS) in vivo. Changes in tension across VE-cadherin observed using ratio-metric or lifetime FRET measurements reflect acto-myosin contractility within endothelial cells. Furthermore, we apply the TS to reveal biologically relevant changes in VE-cadherin tension that occur as the dorsal aorta matures and upon genetic and chemical perturbations during embryonic development. Mechanical forces play a crucial role during morphogenesis, but how these are sensed and transduced in vivo is not fully understood. Here the authors apply a FRET tension sensor to live zebrafish and study changes in VE-cadherin tension at endothelial cell-cell junctions during arterial maturation.