Endothelial-zippering proceeds by sensing heartbeat-driven force through cadherin-6 during heart-vessel connection in zebrafish

The connection between the heart and great vessels established during embryogenesis is essential for circulation. However, how great veins adhere to the endocardium lining the inside lumen of the beating heart remains unknown. Here, using zebrafish, we demonstrate that the endocardium and great veins are sealed in a zipper-closing manner outside the beating heart. The gradual elongation of the endocardium, driven by convergent extension, organized this adhesion by pulling venous endothelial cells (ECs) along the anterior-posterior axis. Time-specific manipulation of the heart rate revealed that this endocardial elongation proceeds against heartbeat-driven force. From time-lapse imaging of adherens junctions, which would counterbalance mechanical forces, we found a specific contribution of cadherin-6 instead of cadherin-5 in sensing endocardium-specific mechanical force. This specificity was confirmed by the depletion of cadherin-6 that caused endocardium deformation. Altogether, we propose that cadherin-6-mediated EC-zippering updates the understanding of cadherin usage in dynamic morphogenesis.