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Harnessing structural instability for cell durotaxis

Harnessing structural instability for cell durotaxis Abstract Cells were suggested to sense matrix rigidity by applying fluctuating forces, but the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Here, with a generic filament-crosslinker modeling system for stress fibers, we demonstrate that high mechanical forces can be induced by specific protein–protein interactions with biased kinetics. Strikingly, we further find that there exist two patterns of force generation, a stable pattern and a fluctuated pattern, in agreement with previous experimental observations. Our analysis indicates that the fluctuated force profile is essentially due to force-induced structural instability during structural assembly. We suggest that how cells utilize or circumvent such stable forces or fluctuated forces may be important in other biological processes as well, though whether such forces should be regarded as passive or active is still tentative. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png "Acta Mechanica Sinica" Springer Journals

Harnessing structural instability for cell durotaxis

"Acta Mechanica Sinica" , Volume 35 (2): 10 – Apr 1, 2019

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References (38)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
2019 The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature
ISSN
0567-7718
eISSN
1614-3116
DOI
10.1007/s10409-019-00853-2
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract Cells were suggested to sense matrix rigidity by applying fluctuating forces, but the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Here, with a generic filament-crosslinker modeling system for stress fibers, we demonstrate that high mechanical forces can be induced by specific protein–protein interactions with biased kinetics. Strikingly, we further find that there exist two patterns of force generation, a stable pattern and a fluctuated pattern, in agreement with previous experimental observations. Our analysis indicates that the fluctuated force profile is essentially due to force-induced structural instability during structural assembly. We suggest that how cells utilize or circumvent such stable forces or fluctuated forces may be important in other biological processes as well, though whether such forces should be regarded as passive or active is still tentative.

Journal

"Acta Mechanica Sinica"Springer Journals

Published: Apr 1, 2019

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