Ingrid Bourrin-Reynard

There was an error published in J. Cell Sci. 130 , [626-636][1]. The name of the author Alexander Kyumurkov was incorrect in the original author list. The correct spelling is given above. The authors apologise to the readers for any confusion that this error might have caused. [1]: /lookup/

Cell migration is a complex process requiring density and rigidity sensing of the microenvironment to adapt cell migratory speed through focal adhesion and actin cytoskeleton regulation. ICAP-1 (also known as ITGB1BP1), a β1 integrin partner, is essential for ensuring integrin activation cycle and focal adhesion formation. We show that ICAP-1 is monoubiquitylated by Smurf1, preventing ICAP-1 binding to β1 integrin. The non-ubiquitylatable form of ICAP-1 modifies β1 integrin focal adhesion organization and interferes with fibronectin density sensing. ICAP-1 is also required for adapting cell migration in response to substrate stiffness in a β1-integrin-independent manner. ICAP-1 monoubiquitylation regulates rigidity sensing by increasing MRCKα (also known as CDC42BPA)-dependent cell contractility through myosin phosphorylation independently of substrate rigidity. We provide evidence that ICAP-1 monoubiquitylation helps in switching from ROCK2-mediated to MRCKα-mediated cell contractility. ICAP-1 monoubiquitylation serves as a molecular switch to coordinate extracellular matrix density and rigidity sensing thus acting as a crucial modulator of cell migration and mechanosensing.

Background information: Integrins are key receptors that allow cells to sense and respond to their mechanical environment. Although they bind the same ligand, β1 and β3 integrins have distinct and cooperative roles in mechanotransduction.Results: Using traction force microscopy on unconstrained cells, we show that deleting β3 causes traction forces to increase, whereas the deletion of β1 integrin results in a strong decrease of contractile forces. Consistently, loss of β3 integrin also induces an increase in β1 integrin activation. Using a genetic approach, we identified the phosphorylation of the distal NPXY domain as an essential process for β3 integrin to be able to modulate traction forces. Loss of β3 integrins also impacted cell shape and the spatial distribution of traction forces, by causing forces to be generated closer to the cell edge, and the cell shape.Conclusions: Our results emphasize the role of β3 integrin in spatial distribution of cellular forces. We speculate that, by modulating its affinity with kindlin, β3 integrins may be able to locate near the cell edge where it can control β1 integrin activation and clustering.Significance: Tensional homeostasis at the single cell level is performed by the ability of β3 adhesions to negatively regulate the activation degree and spatial localization of β1 integrins. By combining genetic approaches and new tools to analyze traction distribution and cell morphology on a population of cells we were able to identify the molecular partners involved in cellular forces regulation.

Understanding how cells integrate multiple signaling pathways to achieve specific cell differentiation is a challenging question in cell biology. We have explored the physiological presentation of BMP-2 by using a biomaterial that harbors tunable mechanical properties to promote localized BMP-2 signaling. We show that matrix-bound BMP-2 is sufficient to induce β3 integrin–dependent C2C12 cell spreading by overriding the soft signal of the biomaterial and impacting actin organization and adhesion site dynamics. In turn, αvβ3 integrin is required to mediate BMP-2–induced Smad signaling through a Cdc42–Src–FAK–ILK pathway. β3 integrin regulates a multistep process to control first BMP-2 receptor activity and second the inhibitory role of GSK3 on Smad signaling. Overall, our results show that BMP receptors and β3 integrin work together to control Smad signaling and tensional homeostasis, thereby coupling cell adhesion and fate commitment, two fundamental aspects of developmental biology and regenerative medicine.