Regulation of Hippo signaling and cell proliferation by tension across tissues.

Mechanical tension across tissues is a major regulator of cell proliferation, and plays an important role during development, organ growth, and tissue regeneration. Hippo pathway regulation of YAP is controlled by mechanical tension. When cells experience high mechanical tension, YAP localizes to the nucleus and promotes cell proliferation. Conversely, low tension causes YAP to exit the nucleus and cells to arrest growth. Transmission of tension across tissues requires cell-cell adhesion such as that provided by cadherins. We showed that tension sensed at cell-cell junctions triggers activation of a LATS inhibitor TRIP6 that recruits LATS to cell-cell junctions and inhibits it. Current studies are focused on understanding the molecular mechanism by which tension sensing controls LATS activity and identifying additional components of the tension sensing system.  

Relevant Publicatons:

list here