Supporting Information

Collective Epithelial Cell Sheet Adhesion and

Migration on Polyelectrolyte Multilayers with

Uniform and Gradient Compliance

Jessica S. Martinez †, Joseph B. Schlenoff ‡, Thomas C. S. Keller III *†,

Department of Biological Science and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry,

Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306

Received (MONTH DAY, YEAR); Revised Manuscript Received (MONTH DAY, YEAR)

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tkeller@bio.fsu.edu

† Department of Biological Science.

‡ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Edge (Leader) Cell

Internal (Follower) Cell

20µm

Fig. S1: Edge (leader) and internal (follower) cells in sheet. Cells at the leading edge, defined

as edge cells or leader cells (outlined in white), are joined via cell-cell adhesion to internal

(follower) cells within the sheet. Plithotaxing cell sheet is fluorescently stained for actin (green),

vinculin (red), and DNA (blue).

Fig. S2: Rac-1 dependent lamellipodia ruffling, larger images of Fig. 3. Cropped images of

individual cells, which broke away from epithelial sheet cells, were treated with 5 or 50 µM

concentrations of the Rac-1 inhibitor NSC23766. Images on first column were taken 25 minutes

after exposure to inhibitor and subsequent images were taken every minute after. White arrows

indicate areas of altered lamellipodia ruffling compared to untreated cell. Scale bar, 100 µm.