A Diversity of Actomyosin Machineries to control developmental cell morphogenesis – ADAM

Cell morphogenesis relies on ubiquitly-used actin filaments and myosin motors to generate forces. In animals, the core elements of this machinery are encoded by a variety of paralog genes, and modified post translationally, altering their dynamics. During embryonic development, the composition of actomyosin networks changes dynamically, driving specific cell behaviors. However, so far, the relationship between the level of molecular complexity required to drive different physiological processes and the diversity of the underlying genetic code remains elusive.
Focusing primarily on actin and myosin, we propose to elucidate the regulatory mechanisms that control first their expression pattern, second to explore how their biochemical properties are tuned to drive specific morphogenetic processes.

To address these questions in the developing embryo, we propose to:
1. Define the expression pattern of non muscle actin and myosin paralogs,
2. Characterize, using genetics, their respective physiological roles,
3. Explore how their biochemical properties are tuned to drive specific physiological functions.

To fully grasp the molecular details underlying these questions, we will combine microscopy in physiological conditions, genetic perturbations, and in vitro characterization of enzymatic properties. The ADAM project gathers a unique consortium of three labs with specific expertise in genome engineering for genetic perturbation, imaging developments, biochemistry from cell extracts and purified proteins for actin and myosin biochemistry. This project provides a new and exciting opportunity to better grasp how distinct roles are assigned to specific actomyosin genes through evolution. We expect our results to reveal general regulatory principles that control the association between actin and myosin paralogs to drive specific cell behaviors during embryonic development.