Epithelial cells can assemble into cohesive monolayers with rich morphologies on substrates due to competition between elastic,edge,and interfacial effects.Here we present a molecularly based thermodynamic model,integ...Epithelial cells can assemble into cohesive monolayers with rich morphologies on substrates due to competition between elastic,edge,and interfacial effects.Here we present a molecularly based thermodynamic model,integrating monolayer and substrate elasticity,and force-mediated focal adhesion formation,to elucidate the active biochemical regulation over the cellular force landscapes in cohesive epithelial monolayers,corroborated by microscopy and immunofluorescence studies.The predicted extracellular traction and intercellular tension are both monolayer size and substrate stiffness dependent,suggestive of cross-talks between intercellular and extracellular activities.Our model sets a firm ground toward a versatile computational framework to uncover the molecular origins of morphogenesis and disease in multicellular epithelia.展开更多
基金S.L.Z.acknowledges support by the National Science Foundation(NSF)under Grants CMMI-0754463 and CBET-1067523by the National Institute of Health(NIH)under the grant R21HL122902.
文摘Epithelial cells can assemble into cohesive monolayers with rich morphologies on substrates due to competition between elastic,edge,and interfacial effects.Here we present a molecularly based thermodynamic model,integrating monolayer and substrate elasticity,and force-mediated focal adhesion formation,to elucidate the active biochemical regulation over the cellular force landscapes in cohesive epithelial monolayers,corroborated by microscopy and immunofluorescence studies.The predicted extracellular traction and intercellular tension are both monolayer size and substrate stiffness dependent,suggestive of cross-talks between intercellular and extracellular activities.Our model sets a firm ground toward a versatile computational framework to uncover the molecular origins of morphogenesis and disease in multicellular epithelia.
