Asymmetric localization of DLC1 defines avian trunk neural crest polarity for directional delamination and migration

Regulation and functions of the DLC family of RhoGAP proteins: Implications for development and cancer

The DLC (Deleted in Liver Cancer) family of RhoGAP (Rho GTPase-activating) proteins has been extensively studied since the identification of the first family member nearly 30 years ago. Rho GTPase signaling is essential for various cellular processes, including cytoskeletal dynamics, cell migration, and proliferation. Members of the DLC family are key regulators of this signaling pathway, with well-established roles in development and carcinogenesis. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of research into DLC regulation and cellular functions over the last three decades. In particular, we summarize control mechanisms of DLC gene expression at both the transcriptional and post-transcriptional level. Additionally, recent advances in understanding the post-translational regulation of DLC proteins that allow for tuning of protein activity and localization are highlighted. This detailed overview will serve as resource for future studies aimed at further elucidating the complex regulatory mechanisms of DLC family proteins and exploring their potential as targets for therapeutic applications.

Identification and characterization of intermediate states in mammalian neural crest cell epithelial to mesenchymal transition and delamination

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a cellular process that converts epithelial cells to mesenchymal cells with migratory potential in developmental and pathological processes. Although originally considered a binary event, EMT in cancer progression involves intermediate states between a fully epithelial and a fully mesenchymal phenotype, which are characterized by distinct combinations of epithelial and mesenchymal markers. This phenomenon has been termed epithelial to mesenchymal plasticity (EMP), however, the intermediate states remain poorly described and it's unclear whether they exist during developmental EMT. Neural crest cells (NCC) are an embryonic progenitor cell population that gives rise to numerous cell types and tissues in vertebrates, and their formation and delamination is a classic example of developmental EMT. However, whether intermediate states also exist during NCC EMT and delamination remains unknown. Through single-cell RNA sequencing of mouse embryos, we identified intermediate NCC states based on their transcriptional signature and then spatially defined their locations in situ in the dorsolateral neuroepithelium. Our results illustrate the importance of cell cycle regulation and functional role for the intermediate stage marker Dlc1 in facilitating mammalian cranial NCC delamination and may provide new insights into mechanisms regulating pathological EMP.

Identification and characterization of intermediate states in mammalian neural crest cell epithelial to mesenchymal transition and delamination

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a cellular process that converts epithelial cells to mesenchymal cells with migratory potential in both developmental and pathological processes. Although originally considered a binary event, EMT in cancer progression involves intermediate states between a fully epithelial and a fully mesenchymal phenotype, which are characterized by distinct combinations of epithelial and mesenchymal markers. This phenomenon has been termed epithelial to mesenchymal plasticity (EMP), however, the intermediate states remain poorly described and it's unclear whether they exist during developmental EMT. Neural crest cells (NCC) are an embryonic progenitor cell population that gives rise to numerous cell types and tissues in vertebrates, and their formation is a classic example of developmental EMT. An important feature of NCC development is their delamination from the neuroepithelium via EMT, following which NCC migrate throughout the embryo and undergo differentiation. NCC delamination shares similar changes in cellular state and structure with cancer cell invasion. However, whether intermediate states also exist during NCC EMT and delamination remains unknown. Through single cell RNA sequencing, we identified intermediate NCC states based on their transcriptional signature and then spatially defined their locations in situ in the dorsolateral neuroepithelium. Our results illustrate the progressive transcriptional and spatial transitions from premigratory to migratory cranial NCC during EMT and delamination. Of note gene expression and trajectory analysis indicate that distinct intermediate populations of NCC delaminate in either S phase or G2/M phase of the cell cycle, and the importance of cell cycle regulation in facilitating mammalian cranial NCC delamination was confirmed through cell cycle inhibition studies. Additionally, transcriptional knockdown revealed a functional role for the intermediate stage marker Dlc1 in regulating NCC delamination and migration. Overall, our work identifying and characterizing the intermediate cellular states, processes, and molecular signals that regulate mammalian NCC EMT and delamination furthers our understanding of developmental EMP and may provide new insights into mechanisms regulating pathological EMP.

Live imaging of delamination in Drosophila shows epithelial cell motility and invasiveness are independently regulated

Delaminating cells undergo complex, precisely regulated changes in cell–cell adhesion, motility, polarity, invasiveness, and other cellular properties. Delamination occurs during development and in pathogenic conditions such as cancer metastasis. We analyzed the requirements for epithelial delamination in Drosophila ovary border cells, which detach from the structured epithelial layer and begin to migrate collectively. We used live imaging to examine cellular dynamics, particularly epithelial cells’ acquisition of motility and invasiveness, in delamination-defective mutants during the time period in which delamination occurs in the wild-type ovary. We found that border cells in slow border cells (slbo), a delamination-defective mutant, lacked invasive cellular protrusions but acquired basic cellular motility, while JAK/STAT-inhibited border cells lost both invasiveness and motility. Our results indicate that invasiveness and motility, which are cooperatively required for delamination, are regulated independently. Our reconstruction experiments also showed that motility is not a prerequisite for acquiring invasiveness.

Getting started for migration: A focus on EMT cellular dynamics and mechanics in developmental models

The conversion of epithelial cells into mesenchymal ones, through a process known as epithelial-mesenchymal transition (or EMT) is a reversible process involved in critical steps of animal development as early as gastrulation and throughout organogenesis. In pathological conditions such as aggressive cancers, EMT is often associated with increased drug resistance, motility and invasiveness. The characterisation of the upstream signals and main decision takers, such as the EMT-transcription factors, has led to the identification of a core molecular machinery controlling the specification towards EMT. However, the cellular execution steps of this fundamental shift are poorly described, especially in cancerous cells. Here we review our current knowledge regarding the stepwise nature of EMT in model organisms as diverse as sea urchin, Drosophila, zebrafish, mouse or chicken. We focus on the cellular dynamics and mechanics of the transitional stages by which epithelial cells progressively become mesenchymal and leave the epithelium. We gather the currently available pieces of the puzzle, including the overlooked property of EMT cells to produce mechanical forces along their apico-basal axis before detaching from their neighbours. We discuss the interplay between EMT and the surrounding tissue. Finally, we propose a conceptual framework of EMT cell dynamics from the very first hint of epithelial cell reorganisation to the successful exit from the epithelial sheet.

Durotaxis: the mechanical control of directed cell migration

Directed cell migration is essential for cells to efficiently migrate in physiological and pathological processes. While migrating in their native environment, cells interact with multiple types of cues, such as mechanical and chemical signals. The role of chemical guidance via chemotaxis has been studied in the past, the understanding of mechanical guidance of cell migration via durotaxis remained unclear until very recently. Nonetheless, durotaxis has become a topic of intensive research and several advances have been made in the study of mechanically guided cell migration across multiple fields. Thus, in this article we provide a state of the art about durotaxis by discussing in silico, in vitro and in vivo data. We also present insights on the general mechanisms by which cells sense, transduce and respond to environmental mechanics, to then contextualize these mechanisms in the process of durotaxis and explain how cells bias their migration in anisotropic substrates. Furthermore, we discuss what is known about durotaxis in vivo and we comment on how haptotaxis could arise from integrating durotaxis and chemotaxis in native environments.

Collectively stabilizing and orienting posterior migratory forces disperses cell clusters in vivo

Individual cells detach from cohesive ensembles during development and can inappropriately separate in disease. Although much is known about how cells separate from epithelia, it remains unclear how cells disperse from clusters lacking apical-basal polarity, a hallmark of advanced epithelial cancers. Here, using live imaging of the developmental migration program of Drosophila primordial germ cells (PGCs), we show that cluster dispersal is accomplished by stabilizing and orienting migratory forces. PGCs utilize a G protein coupled receptor (GPCR), Tre1, to guide front-back migratory polarity radially from the cluster toward the endoderm. Posteriorly positioned myosin-dependent contractile forces pull on cell-cell contacts until cells release. Tre1 mutant cells migrate randomly with transient enrichment of the force machinery but fail to separate, indicating a temporal contractile force threshold for detachment. E-cadherin is retained on the cell surface during cell separation and augmenting cell-cell adhesion does not impede detachment. Notably, coordinated migration improves cluster dispersal efficiency by stabilizing cell-cell interfaces and facilitating symmetric pulling. We demonstrate that guidance of inherent migratory forces is sufficient to disperse cell clusters under physiological settings and present a paradigm for how such events could occur across development and disease.

Nuclear DLC1 exerts oncogenic function through association with FOXK1 for cooperative activation of MMP9 expression in melanoma

A Rho GTPase-activating protein (RhoGAP), deleted in liver cancer 1 (DLC1), is known to function as a tumor suppressor in various cancer types; however, whether DLC1 is a tumor-suppressor gene or an oncogene in melanoma remains to be clarified. Here we revealed that high DLC1 expression was detected in most of the melanoma tissues where it was localized in both the nuclei and the cytoplasm. Functional studies unveiled that DLC1 was both required and sufficient for melanoma growth and metastasis. These tumorigenic events were mediated by nuclear-localized DLC1 in a RhoGAP-independent manner. Mechanistically, mass spectrometry analysis identified a DLC1-associated protein, FOXK1 transcription factor, which mediated oncogenic events in melanoma by translocating and retaining DLC1 into the nucleus. RNA-sequencing profiling studies further revealed MMP9 as a direct target of FOXK1 through DLC1-regulated promoter occupancy for cooperative activation of MMP9 expression to promote melanoma invasion and metastasis. Concerted action of DLC1-FOXK1 in MMP9 gene regulation was further supported by their highly correlated expression in melanoma patients' samples and cell lines. Together, our results not only unravel a mechanism by which nuclear DLC1 functions as an oncogene in melanoma but also suggest an unexpected role of RhoGAP protein in transcriptional regulation.

Fbxo9 functions downstream of Sox10 to determine neuron-glial fate choice in the dorsal root ganglia through Neurog2 destabilization

The transcription factor Sox10 is a key regulator in the fate determination of a subpopulation of multipotent trunk neural crest (NC) progenitors toward glial cells instead of sensory neurons in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG). However, the mechanism by which Sox10 regulates glial cell fate commitment during lineage segregation remains poorly understood. In our study, we showed that the neurogenic determinant Neurogenin 2 (Neurog2) exhibited transient overlapping expression with Sox10 in avian trunk NC progenitors, which progressively underwent lineage segregation during migration toward the forming DRG. Gain- and loss-of-function studies revealed that the temporary expression of Neurog2 was due to Sox10 regulation of its protein stability. Transcriptional profiling identified Sox10-regulated F-box only protein (Fbxo9), which is an SCF (Skp1-Cul-F-box)-type ubiquitin ligase for Neurog2. Consistently, overexpression of Fbxo9 in NC progenitors down-regulated Neurog2 protein expression through ubiquitination and promoted the glial lineage at the expense of neuronal differentiation, whereas Fbxo9 knockdown resulted in the opposite phenomenon. Mechanistically, we found that Fbxo9 interacted with Neurog2 to promote its destabilization through the F-box motif. Finally, epistasis analysis further demonstrated that Fbxo9 and probably other F-box members mediated the role of Sox10 in destabilizing Neurog2 protein and directing the lineage of NC progenitors toward glial cells rather than sensory neurons. Altogether, these findings unravel a Sox10-Fbxo9 regulatory axis in promoting the glial fate of NC progenitors through Neurog2 destabilization.

The origin and evolution of vertebrate neural crest cells

The neural crest is a vertebrate-specific migratory stem cell population that generates a remarkably diverse set of cell types and structures. Because many of the morphological, physiological and behavioural novelties of vertebrates are derived from neural crest cells, it is thought that the origin of this cell population was an important milestone in early vertebrate history. An outstanding question in the field of vertebrate evolutionary-developmental biology (evo-devo) is how this cell type evolved in ancestral vertebrates. In this review, we briefly summarize neural crest developmental genetics in vertebrates, focusing in particular on the gene regulatory interactions instructing their early formation within and migration from the dorsal neural tube. We then discuss how studies searching for homologues of neural crest cells in invertebrate chordates led to the discovery of neural crest-like cells in tunicates and the potential implications this has for tracing the pre-vertebrate origins of the neural crest population. Finally, we synthesize this information to propose a model to explain the origin of neural crest cells. We suggest that at least some of the regulatory components of early stages of neural crest development long pre-date vertebrate origins, perhaps dating back to the last common bilaterian ancestor. These components, originally directing neuroectodermal patterning and cell migration, served as a gene regulatory 'scaffold' upon which neural crest-like cells with limited migration and potency evolved in the last common ancestor of tunicates and vertebrates. Finally, the acquisition of regulatory programmes controlling multipotency and long-range, directed migration led to the transition from neural crest-like cells in invertebrate chordates to multipotent migratory neural crest in the first vertebrates.

Acquisition of multipotent and migratory neural crest cells in vertebrate evolution

The emergence of multipotent and migratory neural crest (NC) cells defines a key evolutionary transition from invertebrates to vertebrates. Studies in vertebrates have identified a complex gene regulatory network that governs sequential stages of NC ontogeny. Comparative analysis has revealed extensive conservation of the overall architecture of the NC gene regulatory network between jawless and jawed vertebrates. Among invertebrates, urochordates express putative NC gene homologs in the neural plate border region, but these NC-like cells do not have migratory capacity, whereas cephalochordates contain no NC cells but its genome contains most homologs of vertebrate NC genes. Whether the absence of migratory NC cells in invertebrates is due to differences in enhancer elements or an intrinsic limitation in potency remains unclear. We provide a brief overview of mechanisms that might explain how ancestral NC-like cells acquired the multipotency and migratory capacity seen in vertebrates.

SOX9 is a dose-dependent metastatic fate determinant in melanoma

BACKGROUND

In this research, we aimed to resolve contradictory results whether SOX9 plays a positive or negative role in melanoma progression and determine whether SOX9 and its closely related member SOX10 share the same or distinct targets in mediating their functions in melanoma.

METHODS

Immunofluorescence, TCGA database and qPCR were used to analyze the correlation between the expression patterns and levels of SOX9, SOX10 and NEDD9 in melanoma patient samples. AlamarBlue, transwell invasion and colony formation assays in melanoma cell lines were conducted to investigate the epistatic relationship between SOX10 and NEDD9, as well as the effects of graded SOX9 expression levels. Lung metastasis was determined by tail vein injection assay. Live cell imaging was conducted to monitor dynamics of melanoma migratory behavior. RHOA and RAC1 activation assays measured the activity of Rho GTPases.

RESULTS

High SOX9 expression was predominantly detected in patients with distant melanoma metastases whereas SOX10 was present in the different stages of melanoma. Both SOX9 and SOX10 exhibited distinct but overlapping expression patterns with metastatic marker NEDD9. Accordingly, SOX10 was required for NEDD9 expression, which partly mediated its oncogenic functions in melanoma cells. Compensatory upregulation of SOX9 expression in SOX10-inhibited melanoma cells reduced growth and migratory capacity, partly due to elevated expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 and lack of NEDD9 induction. Conversely, opposite phenomenon was observed when SOX9 expression was further elevated to a range of high SOX9 expression levels in metastatic melanoma specimens, and that high levels of SOX9 can restore melanoma progression in the absence of SOX10 both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, overexpression of SOX9 can also promote invasiveness of the parental melanoma cells by modulating the expression of various matrix metalloproteinases. SOX10 or high SOX9 expression regulates melanoma mesenchymal migration through the NEDD9-mediated focal adhesion dynamics and Rho GTPase signaling.

CONCLUSIONS

These results unravel NEDD9 as a common target for SOX10 or high SOX9 to partly mediate their oncogenic events, and most importantly, reconcile previous discrepancies that suboptimal level of SOX9 expression is anti-metastatic whereas high level of SOX9 is metastatic in a heterogeneous population of melanoma.

Neural crest delamination and migration: Looking forward to the next 150 years

Neural crest (NC) cells were described for the first time in 1868 by Wilhelm His. Since then, this amazing population of migratory stem cells has been intensively studied. It took a century to fully unravel their incredible abilities to contribute to nearly every organ of the body. Yet, our understanding of the cell and molecular mechanisms controlling their migration is far from complete. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on epithelial-mesenchymal transition and collective behavior of NC cells and propose further stops at which the NC train might be calling in the near future.

Reprogramming of Mouse Calvarial Osteoblasts into Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Previous studies have demonstrated the ability of reprogramming endochondral bone into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, but whether similar phenomenon occurs in intramembranous bone remains to be determined. Here we adopted fluorescence-activated cell sorting-based strategy to isolate homogenous population of intramembranous calvarial osteoblasts from newborn transgenic mice carrying both Osx1-GFP::Cre and Oct4-EGFP transgenes. Following retroviral transduction of Yamanaka factors (Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc), enriched population of osteoblasts underwent silencing of Osx1-GFP::Cre expression at early stage of reprogramming followed by late activation of Oct4-EGFP expression in the resulting iPS cells. These osteoblast-derived iPS cells exhibited gene expression profiles akin to embryonic stem cells and were pluripotent as demonstrated by their ability to form teratomas comprising tissues from all germ layers and also contribute to tail tissue in chimera embryos. These data demonstrate that iPS cells can be generated from intramembranous osteoblasts.

Asymmetric localization of DLC1 defines avian trunk neural crest polarity for directional delamination and migration

Following epithelial-mesenchymal transition, acquisition of avian trunk neural crest cell (NCC) polarity is prerequisite for directional delamination and migration, which in turn is essential for peripheral nervous system development. However, how this cell polarization is established and regulated remains unknown. Here we demonstrate that, using the RHOA biosensor in vivo and in vitro, the initiation of NCC polarization is accompanied by highly activated RHOA in the cytoplasm at the cell rear and its fluctuating activity at the front edge. This differential RHOA activity determines polarized NC morphology and motility, and is regulated by the asymmetrically localized RhoGAP Deleted in liver cancer (DLC1) in the cytoplasm at the cell front. Importantly, the association of DLC1 with NEDD9 is crucial for its asymmetric localization and differential RHOA activity. Moreover, NC specifiers, SOX9 and SOX10, regulate NEDD9 and DLC1 expression, respectively. These results present a SOX9/SOX10-NEDD9/DLC1-RHOA regulatory axis to govern NCC migratory polarization.