
@article {160482,
	title = {Coupling between spatial compartments integrates morphogenetic patterning in the organ of Corti.},
	journal = {PLoS Biol},
	volume = {23},
	year = {2025},
	month = {2025 Sep},
	pages = {e3003350},
	abstract = {<p>Morphogenetic information arises from a combination of genetically encoded cellular properties and emergent cellular behaviors. The spatio-temporal implementation of this information is critical to ensure robust, reproducible tissue shapes, yet the principles underlying its organization remain unknown. We investigated this principle using the mouse auditory epithelium, the organ of Corti (OC). OC consists of a sensory domain, which transduces sound through polar mechanosensory hair cells (HC), part of a mosaic with supporting cells (SC). On either side of the sensory domain are non-sensory domains. These domains undergo cellular rearrangements, which, together, lead to a spiral cochlea that contains planar polarized HCs. This makes the mammalian cochlea a compelling system to understand coordination across spatial scales. Using genetic and ex vivo approaches, we found patterning of OC into sensory and non-sensory domains is associated with a combinatorial expression of adhesion molecules, which underpins OC into spatially defined compartments, enabling planar cell polarity (PCP) cues to regulate compartment-specific organization. Through compartment-specific knockouts of the PCP protein, Vangl2, we find evidence of compartment coupling, a non-linear influence on the organization within one compartment when cellular organization is disrupted in another. In the OC, compartment coupling originates from vinculin-dependent junctional mechanics, coordinating cellular dynamics across spatial scales.</p>
},
	keywords = {Animals, Body Patterning, Cell Polarity, Hair Cells, Auditory, Mice, Mice, Knockout, Morphogenesis, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Organ of Corti},
	issn = {1545-7885},
	doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.3003350},
	author = {Prakash, Anubhav and Raman, Sukanya and Kaushik, Raman and Manchanda, Pallavi and Iyer, Anton S and Ladher, Raj K}
}
@article {156898,
	title = {Junctional force patterning drives both positional order and planar polarity in the auditory epithelia.},
	journal = {Nat Commun},
	volume = {16},
	year = {2025},
	month = {2025 Apr 26},
	pages = {3927},
	abstract = {<p class="rtejustify">Tissue function depends on the precise organisation of the constituent cells. In the cochlea, the fidelity of hearing depends on mechanosensory hair cells being consistently surrounded by supporting cells. In addition to this positional order, auditory sensitivity depends crucially on planar cell polarity. This is characterised by the alignment of the orientation of eccentrically placed hair bundles on each hair cell. These two levels of order emerge simultaneously despite the cellular fluxes that occur during cochlear development. However, the link between tissue-scale cellular rearrangements and intrinsic cellular mechanisms remains unknown. By combining experimental and theoretical approaches, we find a precise force patterning underpinning positional order and planar cell polarity. This occurs through the modulation of the levels and phospho-type of the regulatory light chain of non-muscle myosin II at specific cell-cell junctions of the auditory epithelium. We propose that the control of junctional mechanics is vital for the organisation of multi-cell-type epithelia.</p>
},
	keywords = {Animals, Cell Polarity, Cochlea, Epithelium, Hair Cells, Auditory, Intercellular Junctions, Mice, Myosin Light Chains, Myosin Type II},
	issn = {2041-1723},
	doi = {10.1038/s41467-025-58557-0},
	url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58557-0},
	author = {Prakash, Anubhav and Weninger, Julian and Singh, Nishant and Raman, Sukanya and Rao, Madan and Kruse, Karsten and Ladher, Raj K}
}
