Authors: Jingjing Wang, Chaoyu Fu, Sophie Chang, Christopher Stephens, Haimin Li, Dongmei Wang, Yuheng C. Fu, Kathleen J. Green, Jie Yan, Rui Yi
Published: 2025-05-28
Source: Full article
The mechanisms by which epithelial stem cells (SCs) sense mechanical cues within their niche and convert the information into biochemical signals to govern their function are not well understood. Here, we show that hair follicle SCs (HF-SCs) sense mechanical forces through cell adhesion and maintain quiescence in a PIEZO1-dependent mechanism. PIEZO1 interacts with E-cadherin in HF-SCs, and mechanical pulling of E-cadherin with a force of ~20 pN triggers PIEZO1-dependent, localized calcium flickers. Deletion of