Do Cell Membranes Flow Like Honey or Jiggle Like Jello?

Cohen, Adam E.; Shi, Zheng

doi:10.1002/bies.201900142

Cited by 60 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 99 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Whether membrane tension can indeed propagate rapidly in cells and have widespread effects on cell behavior or only results in local perturbations has recently been questioned [ 22 , 23 ]. Several studies suggest that membrane tension could account for long-range communication between distant parts of cells [ 1 , 4 , ∗24 , 25 , 26 ].…”

Section: To Flow or Not To Flow?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…How can these seemingly opposing results be reconciled? Cohen and Shi [ 23 ] suggest that the lack of propagation of membrane tension changes can be explained by the impediment of membrane flow caused by transmembrane proteins interacting with the underlying cytoskeleton, which could vary between cell types. Indeed, cortical thickness and architecture vary between cell types and subcellular regions [ 27 , 28 ] and so does the expression of MCA and transmembrane proteins.…”

Section: To Flow or Not To Flow?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Pay attention to membrane tension: Mechanobiology of the cell surface

Sitarska

Diz-Muñoz

2020

Current Opinion in Cell Biology

149

105

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The cell surface is a mechanobiological unit that encompasses the plasma membrane, its interacting proteins, and the complex underlying cytoskeleton. Recently, attention has been directed to the mechanics of the plasma membrane, and in particular membrane tension, which has been linked to diverse cellular processes such as cell migration and membrane trafficking. However, how tension across the plasma membrane is regulated and propagated is still not completely understood. Here, we review recent efforts to study the interplay between membrane tension and the cytoskeletal machinery and how they control cell form and function. We focus on factors that have been proposed to affect the propagation of membrane tension and as such could determine whether it can act as a global or local regulator of cell behavior. Finally, we discuss the limitations of the available tool kit as new approaches that reveal its dynamics in cells are needed to decipher how membrane tension regulates diverse cellular processes.

show abstract

Section: To Flow or Not To Flow?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: To Flow or Not To Flow?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pay attention to membrane tension: Mechanobiology of the cell surface

Sitarska

Diz-Muñoz

2020

Current Opinion in Cell Biology

149

105

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Single cells are complex composite materials [35], integrating static (solid-like) and time-dependent (fluid-like) mechanical components that contribute to the shortterm response and long-term adaptability of cells, respectively. Here we concentrate the analysis on the measurement of the elastic component, associated to the tensional state of the cortex that directly influences the functionality of mechanosensitive ion channels [14] and the rapid transport of mechanical forces across the cell [36,37]. Cell mechanics has been largely studied with cantilever-based nanoindentation, and the limits of validity of the approach have been broadly discussed [38].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elasticity Spectra as a Tool to Investigate Actin Cortex Mechanics

Lüchtefeld

Bartolozzi

Morales

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: The mechanical properties of single living cells have proven to be a powerful marker of the cell physiological state. The use of nanoindentation-based single cell force spectroscopy provided a wealth of information on the elasticity of cells, which is still largely to be exploited. The simplest model to describe cell mechanics is to treat them as a homogeneous elastic material and describe it in terms of the Young's modulus. Beside its simplicity, this approach proved to be extremely informative, allowing to assess the potential of this physical indicator towards high throughput phenotyping in diagnostic and prognostic applications. Results: Here we propose an extension of this analysis to explicitly account for the properties of the actin cortex. We present a method, the Elasticity Spectra, to calculate the apparent stiffness of the cell as a function of the indentation depth and we suggest a simple phenomenological approach to measure the thickness and stiffness of the actin cortex, in addition to the standard Young's modulus. Conclusions: The Elasticity Spectra approach is tested and validated on a set of cells treated with cytoskeleton-affecting drugs, showing the potential to extend the current representation of cell mechanics, without introducing a detailed and complex description of the intracellular structure.

show abstract

“…Given our finding that actin cables are required for MINM, it is possible that motor-independent interactions of ER with actin cables contribute to regulating differential tension and/or its consequences (Prinz et al, 2000). In this context it is particularly interesting that in mammalian cells, immobilization of transmembrane proteins via interaction with the cortical actin cytoskeleton can strongly modulate tension-induced plasma membrane bulk flow (Cohen and Shi, 2020;Shi et al, 2018). However, in this scenario, it is not immediately obvious how actin cables would contribute to MINM.…”

Section: Actin Cables Can Buffer Mt-based Pushing Forces On the Nucleusmentioning

confidence: 96%

Microtubule-independent movement of the fission yeast nucleus

Ashraf

Kelly

Sawin

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Movement of the cell nucleus typically involves the cytoskeleton and either polymerization-based pushing forces or motor-based pulling forces. In fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, nuclear movement and positioning are thought to depend on microtubule polymerization-based pushing forces. Here we describe a novel, microtubule-independent, form of nuclear movement in fission yeast. Microtubule-independent nuclear movement is directed towards growing cell tips, and it is strongest when the nucleus is close to a growing cell tip, and weakest when the nucleus is far from that tip. Microtubule-independent nuclear movement requires actin cables but does not depend on actin polymerization-based pushing or myosin V-based pulling forces. Vesicle-associated membrane protein (VAMP)-associated proteins (VAPs) Scs2 and Scs22, which are critical for endoplasmic reticulum-plasma membrane contact sites in fission yeast, are also required for microtubule-independent nuclear movement. We also find that in cells in which microtubule-based pushing forces are present, disruption of actin cables leads to increased fluctuations in interphase nuclear positioning and subsequent altered septation. Our results suggest two non-exclusive mechanisms for microtubule-independent nuclear movement, which may help illuminate aspects of nuclear positioning in other cells.

show abstract

Do Cell Membranes Flow Like Honey or Jiggle Like Jello?

Cited by 60 publications

References 99 publications

Pay attention to membrane tension: Mechanobiology of the cell surface

Pay attention to membrane tension: Mechanobiology of the cell surface

Elasticity Spectra as a Tool to Investigate Actin Cortex Mechanics

Microtubule-independent movement of the fission yeast nucleus

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About