Reposted by Raimon Sunyer
Raimon Sunyer
@raimonsunyer.bsky.social
1.1K followers 920 following 90 posts
Associate professor at @unibarcelona.bsky.social • Previous RyC • NIH & @ibecbarcelona.bsky.social alumni • Interested in #CellMigration & #mechanobiology
![A screen for adherens junction proteins regulating collective cell migration and testis morphogenesis reveals important roles for the Rab GAP RN-tre and the kinase Par-1
Sarah Clark, Siobhan Morris, Joseph Dordor, Lawrencia Semireka Amo, Renick Wiltshire, Taino Encarnacion, Maik Bischoff, Mark Peifer
doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.22.727264
This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [what does this mean?].
Abstract
Animal tissues have diverse architectures and cell behaviors across the epithelial-mesenchymal spectrum. Cell adhesion mediated by classical cadherins is foundational. Cadherins nucleate complexes of dozens of proteins connecting junctions to the cytoskeleton and signaling downstream. Many junctional proteins are well-studied in epithelia, but less is known about roles during mesenchymal migration. The nascent myotubes of the pupal Drosophila testis provide an excellent model for N-cadherin mediated mesenchymal migration. We combined a proximity proteomics dataset of adherens junction proteins in mammalian epithelial cells with genome-wide shRNA libraries knocking down Drosophila genes to begin to define the subset of junctional proteins important in mesenchymal migration. While N-cadherin is predominant, E-cadherin plays a supporting role. Surprisingly, several proteins with key roles in epithelial morphogenesis, including Afadins homolog Canoe, ZO-1s homolog Polychaetoid, and Par3s homolog Bazooka play at most modest roles. Twenty-two genes with diverse cell biological roles had strong to moderate defects in testis morphogenesis. These will provide a community resource. We followed up two. The kinase Par-1 is important for migration and gap closure, with knockdown phenotypes paralleling those of myosin. The Rab GAP RN-tre does not have roles until after migration and works in parallel with N-cadherin during testis spiralization.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
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