Galvanin (TMEM154) is an electric-field sensor for directed cell migration
7 affiliations
- 1Department of Biochemistry and BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80303, USA. Electronic address: [email protected]
- 2Department of Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
- 3Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
- 4Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
- 5Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA; Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
- 6Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Omenn-Darling Bioengineering Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
- 7Department of Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. Electronic address: [email protected]
Abstract
Directed cell migration of immune and epithelial cells is critical for their rapid response to tissue injury or infection. Endogenous electric fields generated by disruption of the transepithelial potential across the skin have been postulated to play an important role in guiding cells to wound sites, though how individual cells sense these tissue-scale physical cues remains largely unknown. We have identified Galvanin (TMEM154), a previously uncharacterized single-pass transmembrane protein, as being required for electric-field-guided migration of individual rapidly moving cells. Galvanin functions in both immune and epithelial cell types. Upon exposure of cells to an electric field, Galvanin rapidly relocalizes to the anodal side of a cell, and the net charge on its extracellular domain is necessary and sufficient to drive this spatial relocalization. Furthermore, expression of Galvanin is sufficient to confer electric field-guided migration on otherwise non-responsive epithelial cells. In human neutrophils, we show that Galvanin relocalization is immediately followed by changes in the spatial pattern of cellular protrusion and retraction. The strong directional response of these cells is lost upon truncation of Galvanin's intracellular domain, suggesting that Galvanin acts as a direct sensor of the electric field, transducing spatial information about a cell's electrical environment to the intracellular migratory apparatus. This sensor relocalization mechanism of cell steering defines a new paradigm for directed cell migration.
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BibTeX
@article{belliveau2026galvanin,
title = {{Galvanin (TMEM154) is an electric-field sensor for directed cell migration}},
author = {Nathan M. Belliveau and Matthew J. Footer and Amy Platenkamp and Celeste Rodriguez and Heonsu Kim and Christopher K. Prinz and Aaron Paul van Loon and Yubin Lin and Tara E. Eustis and Michelle M. Chan and Daniel J. Cohen and Julie A. Theriot},
journal = {Cell},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.1016/j.cell.2026.04.026},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2026.04.026},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Galvanin (TMEM154) is an electric-field sensor for directed cell migration
AU - Nathan M. Belliveau
AU - Matthew J. Footer
AU - Amy Platenkamp
AU - Celeste Rodriguez
AU - Heonsu Kim
AU - Christopher K. Prinz
AU - Aaron Paul van Loon
AU - Yubin Lin
AU - Tara E. Eustis
AU - Michelle M. Chan
AU - Daniel J. Cohen
AU - Julie A. Theriot
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/12
JO - Cell
DO - 10.1016/j.cell.2026.04.026
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2026.04.026
AB - Directed cell migration of immune and epithelial cells is critical for their rapid response to tissue injury or infection. Endogenous electric fields generated by disruption of the transepithelial potential across the skin have been postulated to play an important role in guiding cells to wound sites, though how individual cells sense these tissue-scale physical cues remains largely unknown. We have identified Galvanin (TMEM154), a previously uncharacterized single-pass transmembrane protein, as being required for electric-field-guided migration of individual rapidly moving cells. Galvanin functions in both immune and epithelial cell types. Upon exposure of cells to an electric field, Galvanin rapidly relocalizes to the anodal side of a cell, and the net charge on its extracellular domain is necessary and sufficient to drive this spatial relocalization. Furthermore, expression of Galvanin is sufficient to confer electric field-guided migration on otherwise non-responsive epithelial cells. In human neutrophils, we show that Galvanin relocalization is immediately followed by changes in the spatial pattern of cellular protrusion and retraction. The strong directional response of these cells is lost upon truncation of Galvanin's intracellular domain, suggesting that Galvanin acts as a direct sensor of the electric field, transducing spatial information about a cell's electrical environment to the intracellular migratory apparatus. This sensor relocalization mechanism of cell steering defines a new paradigm for directed cell migration.
SN - 0092-8674
SN - 1097-4172
ER -