Coordinated activities of Myosin Vb isoforms and mTOR signaling regulate epithelial cell morphology during development

Abstract

The maintenance of epithelial architecture necessitates tight regulation of cell size and shape. However, mechanisms underlying epithelial cell size regulation remain poorly understood. We show that the interaction of Myosin Vb with Rab11 prevents the accumulation of apically derived endosomes to maintain cell-size, whereas that with Rab10 regulates vesicular transport from the trans-Golgi. These interactions are required for the fine-tuning of the epithelial cell morphology during zebrafish development. Furthermore, the compensatory cell growth upon cell-proliferation inhibition involves a preferential expansion of the apical domain, leading to flatter epithelial cells, an efficient strategy to cover the surface with fewer cells. This apical domain growth requires post-trans-Golgi transport mediated by the Rab10-interacting Myosin Vb isoform, downstream of the mTOR-Fatty Acid Synthase (FASN) axis. Changes in trans-Golgi morphology indicate that the Golgi synchronizes mTOR-FASN-regulated biosynthetic input and Myosin Vb-Rab10 dependent output. Our study unravels the mechanism of polarized growth in epithelial cells and delineates functions of Myosin Vb isoforms in cell size regulation during development.