Cytoskeletal Influence in Signal Transduction

Andrew Haye

Mentor: Dr. Devreotes

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

The complex mechanisms that control cell movement are currently being uncovered. Diseases such as cancer, more specifically metastatic cancers utilize significantly increased cell division and migration to wreak havoc on healthy tissue. In order to move a cell, myosin motor proteins in coordination with actin filaments create protrusive and contractile events. Cytoskeletal proteins are organized by upstream Signal Transduction pathways. We want to uncover how these two networks, the Signal Transduction Excitable Network(STEN) and the Cytoskeletal Excitable Network (CEN) communicate with one another. Specifically, we set out to test the effects of myosin activity on signaling pathways. By combining synthetic biology and fluorescent microscopy, we measured how rapid changes in myosin activity affected STEN molecules such as Ras. Our data reveals that lowering myosin activity leads to an upregulation in signal transduction activity. Currently, we are testing how cells with reduced myosin activity respond to chemical cues that guide cell migration. These findings will help us further understand how cell mechanics can influence signaling activity.