Fig. 2: E-cad KO cells are eliminated at a mechanically active interface.
From: Force transmission is a master regulator of mechanical cell competition
a, Extrusion rates calculated by counting all extrusions within 1-h intervals normalized to the area occupied by each cell type during the time interval. E-cad KO cells are in minority in the mixed culture. P values are obtained from a Kruskal–Wallis test corrected for multiple comparisons (Dunn’s test). Extrusions are quantified for n = 100 intervals representing eight videos from N = 2 (pure cultures) or N = 3 (mixed cultures) independent experiments. b,c, Relative mechanical properties of E-cad KO cells. Example images of focal adhesions (b, paxillin, white) and the actin cytoskeleton (c, red, maximum projection). d, Left: representative phase-contrast and fluorescence image of MDCK WT and E-cad KO cells (green). The red circles indicate extrusions. Right: probability distribution of cell extrusion regarding the distance from the interface for WT and E-cad KO cells. Cells have a typical diameter of 10–15 µm. n = 14,729 KO extrusion and n = 11,031 WT extrusion from N = 4 independent experiments. e, Top: inverted greyscale image of phospho-myosin (p-myosin) at the tissue interface. Bottom: normalized intensity of phospho-myosin (norm. int. p-myosin) obtained from line plots crossing the tissue interface. The lines were centred at the interface (dashed line, distance = 0), indicated by the fluorescence signal from E-cad KO LifeAct-GFP (not shown), averaged from n = 24 measurements from N = 2 independent experiments. f, Example fluorescence image of pluricellular actomyosin cables forming in WT cells observed in co-culture. Cables are enriched in phospho-myosin (red, intensity-coded) and form along islands of E-cad KO cells (cyan). g, Phase diagram showing the work required to eliminate cells. The x axis shows the difference in cell–cell adhesion. The y axis shows the difference in cell–substrate adhesion. The colour code indicates the difference in work, that is, indicates winning and losing. The top left region shows that cells with relatively high cell–cell adhesion can win despite lower relative cell–substrate adhesion. Data are presented as mean values ± s.d. Scale bars, 50 µm (d); 25 µm (c, e and f); 10 µm (b).
