Deformation dynamics articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article
  16 November 2022 | Open Access

  F-actin architecture determines constraints on myosin thick filament motion

  While the impact of F-actin architecture on stress transmission is well studied, the role of architecture on stress generation remains unclear. Here authors use in vitro model and show that distinct organizations constrain myosin motion.

  • Camelia G. Muresan
  • , Zachary Gao Sun
  •  & Michael P. Murrell

• Article
  24 January 2019 | Open Access

  High-throughput single-cell rheology in complex samples by dynamic real-time deformability cytometry

  Real-time deformability cytometry (RT-DC) is used for mechanical cell phenotyping but is limited to a single snapshot per cell and can only measure elastic modulus. Here the authors introduce dynamic RT-DC which can measure elasticity and viscosity in single cells by following dynamic cell shape changes.

  • Bob Fregin
  • , Fabian Czerwinski
  •  & Oliver Otto

• Article
  29 May 2018 | Open Access

  Budding-like division of all-aqueous emulsion droplets modulated by networks of protein nanofibrils

  The cytoskeleton, a network of fibrils, controls how cells divide. Here, the authors show that synthetic protein fibrils added to an emulsion can control the division of droplets and that this method can be used to control the morphology of microparticles during biomaterial preparation.

  • Yang Song
  • , Thomas C. T. Michaels
  •  & Ho Cheung Shum

• Article
  24 October 2017 | Open Access

  Actomyosin pulsation and flows in an active elastomer with turnover and network remodeling

  Tissue remodeling involves substantial involvement of the contractile actomyosin cytoskeleton. Here the authors model the spatiotemporal evolution of actomyosin densities during Drosophila germband extension and find affine and nonaffine deformations that depend on the magnitude of local contractile stress.

  • Deb Sankar Banerjee
  • , Akankshi Munjal
  •  & Madan Rao

• Article
  16 March 2015 | Open Access

  Translational diffusion of hydration water correlates with functional motions in folded and intrinsically disordered proteins

  Hydration water plasticizes protein structures and is essential for their biological functions, such as enzymatic catalysis. Here, the authors use neutron scattering and molecular dynamics simulations to study hydration water at the dynamical transition of folded and disordered proteins.

  • Giorgio Schirò
  • , Yann Fichou
  •  & Martin Weik

• Article | 08 January 2015

  Membrane tension and peripheral protein density mediate membrane shape transitions

  An ultrafast mechanism of endocytosis was recently discovered, and proposed to be dependent on local reduction in membrane tension. Shi and Baumgart provide experimental support for this hypothesis by quantifying the impact of membrane tension on membrane tubulation by endocytic proteins, such as endophilin A1.

  • Zheng Shi
  •  & Tobias Baumgart

• Article | 14 August 2014

  Documentation and localization of force-mediated filamin A domain perturbations in moving cells

  Biosensors designed to respond to mechanical force in cells have provided insights into the force landscape within a cell. Here, Nakamura et al. design a FRET probe in the actin crosslinking protein filamin A and show that it unfolds under force only in newly protruding regions of the cell.

  • Fumihiko Nakamura
  • , Mia Song
  •  & Thomas P. Stossel

• Article
  17 May 2011 | Open Access

  Active microrheology and simultaneous visualization of sheared phospholipid monolayers

  Two-dimensional fluid interfaces are ubiquitous, but studying their surface dynamic properties is difficult because of coupling between the film and bulk fluid. Choiet al.combine active microrheology with fluorescence microscopy to image fluid interfaces under applied stress.

  • S.Q. Choi
  • , S. Steltenkamp
  •  & T.M. Squires

• Article
  21 December 2010 | Open Access

  Discrete plasticity in sub-10-nm-sized gold crystals

  Deformations in nanocrystals smaller than 10 nm are not well understood. The authors perform compression high-resolution transmission electron microscopy studies of gold nanoparticles, and determine that the nanoparticles deform through the emission of partial dislocations from free surfaces.

  • He Zheng
  • , Ajing Cao
  •  & Scott X. Mao

• Article | 07 December 2010

  Cyclic hardening in bundled actin networks

  Materials such as rubber tend to soften when cyclically deformed. Here, however, the authors find that bundled actin networks can show cyclic hardening and retain a memory of the maximum strain they have been subjected to.

  • K. M. Schmoller
  • , P. Fernández
  •  & A. R. Bausch