Abstract

Osteoclasts are unique in their capacity to degrade bone tissue. To achieve this process, osteoclasts form a specific structure called the sealing zone, which creates a close contact with bone and confines the release of protons and hydrolases for bone degradation. The sealing zone is composed of actin structures called podosomes nested in a dense actin network. The organization of these actin structures inside the sealing zone at the nano scale is still unknown. Here, we combine cutting-edge microscopy methods to reveal the nanoscale architecture and dynamics of the sealing zone formed by human osteoclasts on bone surface. Random illumination microscopy allowed the identification and live imaging of densely packed actin cores within the sealing zone. A cross-correlation analysis of the fluctuations of actin content at these cores indicates that they are locally synchronized. Further examination shows that the sealing zone is composed of groups of synchronized cores linked by a-actinin1 positive filaments, and encircled by adhesion complexes. Thus, we propose that the confinement of bone degradation mediators is achieved through the coordination of islets of actin cores and not by the global coordination of all podosomal subunits forming the sealing zone.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files; Source Data files have been provided for Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Marion Portes

    Institute de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale (IPBS), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Thomas Mangeat

    Centre de Biologie Intégrative, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Natacha Escallier

    Institute de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale (IPBS), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Ophélie Dufrancais

    Institute de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale (IPBS), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Brigitte Raynaud-Messina

    Institute de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale (IPBS), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-7637-1997
  6. Christophe Thibault

    Laboratoire d'analyse et d'architectures des systèmes (LAAS), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Isabelle Maridonneau-Parini

    Institute de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale (IPBS), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Christel Vérollet

    Institute de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale (IPBS), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
    For correspondence
    verollet@ipbs.fr
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1079-9085
  9. Renaud Poincloux

    Institute de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale (IPBS), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
    For correspondence
    poincloux@ipbs.fr
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Funding

Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR16-CE13)

  • Christel Vérollet

Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (FRM DEQ2016 0334894)

  • Isabelle Maridonneau-Parini

Human Frontier Science Program (RGP0035/2016)

  • Isabelle Maridonneau-Parini

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Human subjects: Monocytes from healthy subjects were provided by Etablissement Français du Sang (EFS), Toulouse, France, under contract 21/PLER/TOU/IPBS01/20130042. According to articles L12434 and R124361 of the French Public Health Code, the contract was approved by the French Ministry of Science and Technology (agreement number AC 2009921). Written informed consents were obtained from the donors before sample collection.

Copyright

© 2022, Portes et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 1,121
    views
  • 349
    downloads
  • 6
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Marion Portes
  2. Thomas Mangeat
  3. Natacha Escallier
  4. Ophélie Dufrancais
  5. Brigitte Raynaud-Messina
  6. Christophe Thibault
  7. Isabelle Maridonneau-Parini
  8. Christel Vérollet
  9. Renaud Poincloux
(2022)
Nanoscale architecture and coordination of actin cores within the sealing zone of human osteoclasts
eLife 11:e75610.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.75610

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.75610

Further reading

    1. Cell Biology
    2. Physics of Living Systems
    Pyae Hein Htet, Edward Avezov, Eric Lauga
    Research Article

    The endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the largest cellular compartment, harbours the machinery for the biogenesis of secretory proteins and lipids, calcium storage/mobilisation, and detoxification. It is shaped as layered membranous sheets interconnected with a network of tubules extending throughout the cell. Understanding the influence of the ER morphology dynamics on molecular transport may offer clues to rationalising neuro-pathologies caused by ER morphogen mutations. It remains unclear, however, how the ER facilitates its intra-luminal mobility and homogenises its content. It has been recently proposed that intra-luminal transport may be enabled by active contractions of ER tubules. To surmount the barriers to empirical studies of the minuscule spatial and temporal scales relevant to ER nanofluidics, here we exploit the principles of viscous fluid dynamics to generate a theoretical physical model emulating in silico the content motion in actively contracting nanoscopic tubular networks. The computational model reveals the luminal particle speeds, and their impact in facilitating active transport, of the active contractile behaviour of the different ER components along various time–space parameters. The results of the model indicate that reproducing transport with velocities similar to those reported experimentally in single-particle tracking would require unrealistically high values of tubule contraction site length and rate. Considering further nanofluidic scenarios, we show that width contractions of the ER’s flat domains (perinuclear sheets) generate local flows with only a short-range effect on luminal transport. Only contractions of peripheral sheets can reproduce experimental measurements, provided they are able to contract fast enough.

    1. Cell Biology
    Chenlu Kang, Pengcheng Chen ... Congying Wu
    Research Article

    Cell migration towards stiff substrates has been coined as durotaxis and implicated in development, wound healing, and cancer, where complex interplays between immune and non-immune cells are present. Compared to the emerging mechanisms underlying the strongly adhesive mesenchymal durotaxis, little is known about whether immune cells - migrating in amoeboid mode - could follow mechanical cues. Here, we develop an imaging-based confined migration device with a stiffness gradient. By tracking live cell trajectory and analyzing the directionality of T cells and neutrophils, we observe that amoeboid cells can durotax. We further delineate the underlying mechanism to involve non-muscle myosin IIA (NMIIA) polarization towards the soft-matrix-side but may not require differential actin flow up- or down-stiffness gradient. Using the protista Dictyostelium, we demonstrate the evolutionary conservation of amoeboid durotaxis. Finally, these experimental phenomena are theoretically captured by an active gel model capable of mechanosensing. Collectively, these results may shed new lights on immune surveillance and recently identified confined migration of cancer cells, within the mechanically inhomogeneous tumor microenvironment or the inflamed fibrotic tissues.