Despite acting as a barrier for the organs they encase, epithelial cells turnover at some of the fastest rates in the body. Yet, epithelial cell division must be tightly linked to cell death to preserve barrier function and prevent tumour formation. How do the number of dying cells match those dividing to maintain constant numbers? We previously found that when epithelial cells become too crowded, they activate the stretch-activated channel Piezo1 to trigger extrusion of cells that later die1. Conversely, what controls epithelial cell division to balance cell death at steady state? Here, we find that cell division occurs in regions of low cell density, where epithelial cells are stretched. By experimentally stretching epithelia, we find that mechanical stretch itself rapidly stimulates cell division through activation of the same Piezo1 channel. To do so, stretch triggers cells paused in early G2 to activate calcium-dependent ERK1/2 phosphorylation that activates cyclin B transcription necessary to drive cells into mitosis. Although both epithelial cell division and cell extrusion require Piezo1 at steady state, the type of mechanical force controls the outcome: stretch induces cell division whereas crowding induces extrusion. How Piezo1-dependent calcium transients activate two opposing processes may depend on where and how Piezo1 is activated since it accumulates in different subcellular sites with increasing cell density. In sparse epithelial regions where cells divide, Piezo1 localizes to the plasma membrane and cytoplasm whereas in dense regions where cells extrude, it forms large cytoplasmic aggregates. Because Piezo1 senses both mechanical crowding and stretch, it may act as a homeostatic sensor to control epithelial cell numbers, triggering extrusion/apoptosis in crowded regions and cell division in sparse regions.

Identifying genes involved in biological processes is critical for understanding the molecular building blocks of life. The effectiveness of engineered CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) to efficiently mutate specific loci coupled with the accessibility of zebrafish (Danio rerio) provides an opportunity to screen for genes involved in vertebrate biological processes. Injection of Cas9-encoding mRNA and an engineered, single guide RNA (sgRNA) can cause biallelic mutations in injected embryos that phenocopy known mutant phenotypes. We found that increasing CRISPR efficiency and multiplexing sgRNAs allowed for phenocopy of known mutants across many phenotypes. We performed a proof-of-concept screen examining 48 loci by intersecting, multiplexed pool injections, and identified two new genes involved in electrical synapse formation. By deep-sequencing target loci we found that 90% of the genes were effectively screened. We conclude that CRISPR can be used as a powerful reverse genetic screening strategy in vivo in a vertebrate system.

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The planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway is best known for its role in polarizing epithelial cells within the plane of a tissue but it also plays a role in a range of cell migration events during development. The mechanism by which the PCP pathway polarizes stationary epithelial cells is well characterized, but how PCP signaling functions to regulate more dynamic cell behaviors during directed cell migration is much less understood. Here, we review recent discoveries regarding the localization of PCP proteins in migrating cells and their impact on the cell biology of collective and individual cell migratory behaviors.