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| Open AccessMechanics of the cellular microenvironment as probed by cells in vivo during zebrafish presomitic mesoderm differentiation
During mesodermal differentiation of living zebrafish embryos, individual cells probe the stiffness associated with the foam-like architecture of the tissue as a part of their mechanosensing responses.
- Alessandro Mongera
- , Marie Pochitaloff
- & Otger Campàs
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News & Views |
In search of a softer environment
By maximizing cell–substrate force transmission, cancer cells can migrate towards either stiffer or softer substrate regions.
- Amy E. M. Beedle
- & Pere Roca-Cusachs
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Article |
Microtubules tune mechanosensitive cell responses
Substrate-rigidity-dependent microtubule acetylation is now shown to be triggered by mechanosensing at focal adhesions, and in turn controls the mechanosensitivity of Yes-associated protein (YAP) translocation, focal adhesion distribution, actomyosin contractility and cell migration.
- Shailaja Seetharaman
- , Benoit Vianay
- & Sandrine Etienne-Manneville
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Correlative cryo-ET identifies actin/tropomyosin filaments that mediate cell–substrate adhesion in cancer cells and mechanosensitivity of cell proliferation
The role of actin/tropomyosin filaments in the assembly of cell–substrate adhesions has been investigated and it is now shown by cryo-electron tomography that they are essential for adhesion assembly and also regulate mechanosensing, matrix remodelling and transformation of cells towards a cancer phenotype.
- Maria Lastra Cagigas
- , Nicole S. Bryce
- & Edna C. Hardeman
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News & Views |
Syndecan-4 forces integrins to cooperate
While integrin-based adhesions are thought to underlie many aspects of cell response to localized tension, another matrix receptor, syndecan-4, has now been shown to act as a mechanosensor, which triggers cell-wide integrin activation and adhesion reinforcement.
- Christophe Guilluy
- & Monika E. Dolega
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News & Views |
Life and death agendas of actin filaments
Cancer cells have now been shown to lack rigidity-sensing due to alteration in cytoskeletal sensor proteins, but can be reversed from a transformed to a rigidity-dependent growth state by the sensor proteins, resulting in restoration of contractility and adhesion.
- Edna C. Hardeman
- & Peter W. Gunning
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Syndecan-4 tunes cell mechanics by activating the kindlin-integrin-RhoA pathway
A mechanism of cell response to localized tension shows that syndecan-4 synergizes with EGFR to elicit a mechanosignalling cascade that leads to adaptive cell stiffening through PI3K/kindlin-2 mediated integrin activation.
- Antonios Chronopoulos
- , Stephen D. Thorpe
- & Armando E. del Río Hernández
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A mechano-signalling network linking microtubules, myosin IIA filaments and integrin-based adhesions
Crosstalk between microtubules and the actin cytoskeleton of cells is important in elucidating integrin-mediated adhesion and mechanotransduction. It is now shown that microtubule-mediated control of focal adhesions and podosomes occurs via KANK family proteins.
- Nisha Bte Mohd Rafiq
- , Yukako Nishimura
- & Alexander D. Bershadsky
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An integrin αIIbβ3 intermediate affinity state mediates biomechanical platelet aggregation
An intermediate affinity state of integrins on platelets has been identified to be induced by a biomechanical activation pathway and is shown to promote platelet aggregation.
- Yunfeng Chen
- , Lining Arnold Ju
- & Cheng Zhu
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News & Views |
Control by cell size
Macrophage confinement reduces the ‘late’ inflammatory gene response to lipopolysaccharide through myocardin-related transcription factor, an actin-binding transcription factor.
- Wendy F. Liu
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Article |
Spatial confinement downsizes the inflammatory response of macrophages
Physical confinement of macrophages is shown to down-regulate pro-inflammatory gene transcription, lowering pro-inflammatory macrophage activation and phagocytic potential.
- Nikhil Jain
- & Viola Vogel
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Editorial |
Regeneration gets physical
As the role of biophysical cues in regulating cell behaviour is increasingly understood, more evidence in the field of bioengineering indicates how such signals can affect cells and tissues.
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News & Views |
Instant integrin mechanosensing
Single-cell force spectroscopy reveals rapid, biphasic integrin activation and reinforcement of cell–matrix bonds during the initial steps of fibroblast adhesion.
- Ning Wang
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Commentary |
Designer biomaterials for mechanobiology
Biomaterials engineered with specific bioactive ligands, tunable mechanical properties and complex architecture have emerged as powerful tools to probe cell sensing and response to physical properties of their material surroundings, and ultimately provide designer approaches to control cell function.
- Linqing Li
- , Jeroen Eyckmans
- & Christopher S. Chen
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Fibronectin-bound α5β1 integrins sense load and signal to reinforce adhesion in less than a second
Integrins play an important role in the adhesion of cells to their matrix. Here, the authors investigate how fibroblasts respond to mechanical loads, at the onset of cell adhesion to fibronectin, in distinct phases that are modulated by integrins.
- Nico Strohmeyer
- , Mitasha Bharadwaj
- & Daniel J. Müller
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EGFR and HER2 activate rigidity sensing only on rigid matrices
Epidermal growth factor receptor and its isoform HER2 are recruited to nascent cellular adhesion sites and play an important role in the rigidity sensing of cells on stiff substrates, this activity being dependent on Src-mediated phosphorylation.
- Mayur Saxena
- , Shuaimin Liu
- & Michael P. Sheetz
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N-cadherin adhesive interactions modulate matrix mechanosensing and fate commitment of mesenchymal stem cells
N-cadherin can alter how the stiffening extracellular microenvironment is interpreted by mesenchymal stem cells, leading to subsequent changes in downstream cell proliferation and differentiation.
- Brian D. Cosgrove
- , Keeley L. Mui
- & Robert L. Mauck
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News & Views |
Stiffness does matter
Extracellular-matrix stiffness regulates cell behaviour even when decoupled from ligand density and tethering.
- Sanjay Kumar
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Editorial |
Mechanobiology in harness
Understanding how cells sense and adapt to their environment, and engineering defined culture substrates, will be central to progress in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
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News & Views |
Sensing rigidity
Cells use differences in the binding rates between the extracellular matrix and integrin adhesion receptors to sense matrix rigidity.
- José R. García
- & Andrés J. García
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News & Views |
Sticky mechanical memory
Physical cues from the extracellular environment influence the lineage commitment of stem cells. Now, experiments on human mesenchymal stem cells cultured on photodegradable hydrogels show that the cells' fate can also be determined by past physical environments.
- Jeroen Eyckmans
- & Christopher S. Chen
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News & Views |
Into the groove
Adult cells can be routinely reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells by chemical and genetic means, such as the expression of a cocktail of exogenous transcription factors. It is now shown that growing cells on substrates with aligned features such as microgrooves can enhance this process.
- Yan Xu
- , Longqi Liu
- & Miguel A. Esteban