Dynamic microvilli sculpt bristles at nanometric scale

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Authors

IKEDA Kyojiro N BELEVICH Ilya ZELAYA-LAINEZ Luis OREL Lukas FÜSSL Josef GUMULEC Jaromír HELLMICH Christian JOKITALO Eija RAIBLE Florian

Year of publication 2024
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Nature Communications
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Medicine

Citation
Web https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-48044-3
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48044-3
Keywords Actin; Morphogenesis; Nanoscale materials
Description Organisms generate shapes across size scales. Whereas patterning and morphogenesis of macroscopic tissues has been extensively studied, the principles underlying the formation of micrometric and submicrometric structures remain largely enigmatic. Individual cells of polychaete annelids, so-called chaetoblasts, are associated with the generation of chitinous bristles of highly stereotypic geometry. Here we show that bristle formation requires a chitin-producing enzyme specifically expressed in the chaetoblasts. Chaetoblasts exhibit dynamic cell surfaces with stereotypical patterns of actin-rich microvilli. These microvilli can be matched with internal and external structures of bristles reconstructed from serial block-face electron micrographs. Individual chitin teeth are deposited by microvilli in an extension-disassembly cycle resembling a biological 3D printer. Consistently, pharmacological interference with actin dynamics leads to defects in tooth formation. Our study reveals that both material and shape of bristles are encoded by the same cell, and that microvilli play a role in micro- to submicrometric sculpting of biomaterials.
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