Mechanical forces as long-range organizers of cellular physiology

Speaker: Dr. Henry De Belly, UTSW Organiser: Dr. Juan Manuel García-Arcos, EPFL <p>In migrating cells, the GTPase Rac organizes a protrusive front, whereas Rho organizes a contractile back, yet how these GTPases segregate remains unclear. We leverage optogenetics, mechanical perturbations, and modeling to reveal a mechanochemical long-range mutual activation between front and back polarity programs that complements their known local mutual inhibition. Rac-driven protrusions increase membrane tension, triggering mTORC2-dependent Rho activation at the opposite side of the cell. Conversely, Rho-mediated contractility induces cortical-flow regulation of phosphoinositide signa