Actomyosin bundles serve as a tension sensor and a platform for ERK activation

作者：Hirata Hiroaki; Gupta Mukund; Vedula Sri Ram Krishna; Lim Chwee Teck; Ladoux Benoit; Sokabe Masahiro^*

来源：EMBO Reports, 2015, 16(2): 250-257.

DOI：10.15252/embr.201439140

• contractility
• mechanotransduction
• stress fiber
• tensile force

Tensile forces generated by stress fibers drive signal transduction events at focal adhesions. Here, we report that stress fibers per se act as a platform for tension-induced activation of biochemical signals. The MAP kinase, ERK is activated on stress fibers in a myosin II-dependent manner. In myosin II-inhibited cells, uniaxial stretching of cell adhesion substrates restores ERK activation on stress fibers. By quantifying myosin II- or mechanical stretch-mediated tensile forces in individual stress fibers, we show that ERK activation on stress fibers correlates positively with tensile forces acting on the fibers, indicating stress fibers as a tension sensor in ERK activation. Myosin II-dependent ERK activation is also observed on actomyosin bundles connecting E-cadherin clusters, thus suggesting that actomyosin bundles, in general, work as a platform for tension-dependent ERK activation.

• 出版日期2015-2