Cortical Waves and Bioelectric Cues Coupling Cytoskeletal Dynamics to Cell Migration and Metabolic State

Cell migration is driven by self-organizing waves of cytoskeletal and signalling activity that propagate across the cell cortex, actin polymerization, Ras/PI3K/ERK excitability, and glycolytic flux among them, and these waves couple directly to a cell’s metabolic state. Bioelectric cues, including endogenous and applied electric fields, act on this same cytoskeletal machinery to steer directional migration, and can even trigger membrane budding and vesicle release. Disruption of these coupled processes is increasingly implicated in cancer progression, metabolic dysfunction, and disease states driven by aberrant cell motility.This Research Topic welcomes mechanistic studies of how cytoskeletal networks, actomyosin, microtubules and intermediate filaments, generate and respond to cortical waves and bioelectric signals to drive migration and metabolic adaptation, and how this coupling breaks down in disease. We’re especially interested in work using live-cell imaging, optogenetics, or biosensor-based approaches to capture these dynamics directly, and welcome contributions spanning cancer metabolism, metabolic syndrome, neurodegeneration, and cardiac or skeletal muscle disease.Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:Self-organizing cortical waves (actin, Ras/PI3K/ERK, glycolytic) in directed cell migrationElectric field and bioelectric regulation of cytoskeletal dynamics and migratory behaviourCrosstalk between cytoskeletal remodelling, membrane trafficking and metabolic stateMechanochemical signalling linking migration machinery to metabolic reprogramming in cancerCytoskeletal and migratory dysfunction in neurodegenerative and cardiac/muscle diseaseOptogenetic, biosensor and live-imaging tools for probing cytoskeleton-migration-metabolism couplingWe’d also welcome shorter Perspective and Opinion pieces alongside full Original Research and Reviews, which tends to bring in senior PIs who wouldn’t otherwise commit to a full study. Topic editors: Dhiman Sankar Pal, Huiwang David Zhan, Kan Zhu, Yan Zhang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84996/cortical-waves-and-bioelectric-cues-coupling-cytoskeletal-dynamics-to-cell-migration-and-metabolic-state