The spectrin-based membrane skeleton is a major component of the cell cortex. While expressed by all metazoans, its dynamic interactions with the other cortex components, including the plasma membrane or the acto-myosin cytoskeleton, are poorly understood. Here, I investigated how spectrin re-organizes spatially and dynamically under the membrane during changes in cell mechanics. We found spectrin and acto-myosin to be spatially distinct but cooperating during mechanical challenges, such as cell adhesion and contraction, or compression, stretch and osmolarity fluctuations, creating a cohesive cortex supporting the plasma membrane. Actin territories control protrusions and contractile structures while spectrin territories concentrate in retractile zones and low-actin density/inter-contractile regions, acting as a fence that organize membrane trafficking events. During MECHANOSPECTRIN, I unveiled the existence of a dynamic interplay between acto-myosin and spectrin necessary to support a mesoscale organization of the lipid bilayer into spatially-confined cortical territories during cell mechanoresponse.
This line of research contributes to open new directions in the fields of morphodynamic regulation of cell shape and cell matrix interactions. Thus, it might lead to the identification of novel molecular target for cell signalling mechanisms linked to mechanoresponse during tissue/organ development or pathophysiological conditions with altered cell/tissue morphogenesis.