Self-organization of glycolytic activity into cortical waves fuels cell migration and cancer progression

For many decades glycolysis has been thought to only occur in the cytosol. Surprisingly, we found that, in epithelial cells, 6 of the 9 glycolytic enzymes are enriched at LifeAct-labeled propagating waves and protrusions in the cell cortex, where mitochondria are barely detected. Cell migration is abolished by glycolysis inhibitors but not oxidative phosphorylation inhibitors. These results indicate that cells rely on the local ATP production from glycolysis enriched in the cortical waves and protrusions to move.