’Tug of war’ between cells with missing ’tight junction’ connections: ’winner’ cells contract at the sides thanks to their cytoskeleton (in magenta) and bulge upwards, while the neighbouring ’loser’ cells are stretched out. As a consequence, collective cell motion is obstructed and the gaps cannot be closed effectively. Photo: Dr Alexey Chizhik, University of Göttingen, Third Institute of Physics - Biophysics
'Tug of war' between cells with missing 'tight junction' connections: 'winner' cells contract at the sides thanks to their cytoskeleton ( in magenta ) and bulge upwards, while the neighbouring 'loser' cells are stretched out. As a consequence, collective cell motion is obstructed and the gaps cannot be closed effectively. Photo: Dr Alexey Chizhik, University of Göttingen, Third Institute of Physics - Biophysics Research team led by University of Göttingen investigates the importance of "tight junctions" for cell movement The ability of cells to move together in harmony is crucial for numerous biological processes in our body, for example wound healing, or the healthy development of an organism. This movement is made possible by the connections between individual cells. These connections, in turn, are established by various protein molecules which transfer the necessary forces and information between neighbouring cells. A research team led by the University of Göttingen, and including researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, has shown that particularly close connections - known as "tight junctions" - play an important role in cell movement. In addition, they investigated the consequences of losing these connections.
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