Materials and Methods
Cell CultureHuman foreskin fibroblast (HFF) cells CCD-1070Sk (ATCC CRL-2091) were cultured in DMEM high glucose medium (Gibco, Cat #21063-029) in the absence of phenol red and supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS, Axenia Biologix), sodium pyruvate (1 mM, Gibco), MEM non-essential amino acids (1x, Gibco), and penicillin/streptomycin (100 U/mL and 100 μg/mL, Gibco). The cells were incubated at 37 °C with 5% CO 2 . On the day of the experiment, cells were washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) (Gibco), trypsinized using 0.25% Trypsin-EDTA (Gibco), seeded on MTS-functionalized coverslips in a custom-made chamber, and allowed to adhere for ~60 minutes in DMEM high glucose media with 10% FBS. FRET measurements were made within 3 hours of plating the cells. Control measurements indicated that cells remained viable for at least 5 hours under experimental conditions, and that the MTSs did not detach from the coverslip surface in that time.
Fluorescent proteins and transfectionStable cell lines: DNA constructs were transfected using Amaxa® Human Dermal Fibroblast Nucleofector® Kit (Lonza) using their optimized protocols. To achieve stable cell lines expressing paxillin (GFP at C-terminus) and myosin regulatory light chain (MRLC), we cloned these constructs into DNA 2.0's PiggyBac expression vectors. We changed the media to DMEM high glucose medium with no FBS and no antibiotics the night before transfection to increase transfection efficiency. One day after transfection, 1.0 μg/mL puromyocin was added to the media to select for stably transformed cells. Fresh media with drug was added after 2 days. The cells were then washed with PBS, and fresh media (with no drug) was added. Fluorescence images confirmed that ~75% of the resulting cells stably expressed the GFP-fusion proteins.Transient expression: Cells were transfected using the Amaxa® Human Dermal Fibroblast Nucleofector® Kit, switching to DMEM high glucose medium with no FBS and no antibiotics the night before transfection. Cells were used 1-3 days post transfection. Actin-GFP was labeled using the appropriate CellLight® fluorescent protein construct (Life Technologies, Cat #C10582), with the manufacturer-specified protocol. GFP-tagged fusions of talin (GFP at N-terminus), vinculin (GFP at N-terminus), α-actinin (GFP at C-terminus), α 5 integrin (two versions; high and reduced expression, GFP at C-terminus) were obtained from Addgene (Plasmid #26724, 50513, 11908, 15238, 30450, respectively). mEmerald-tagged α v integrin (mEmerald at C-terminus) was obtained from Addgene (Plasmid #53985). All of the GFP fusion proteins used in this work are either identical or functionally equivalent (i.e. GFP fusion in the same location) to constructs used in previous publications 1,2 . The α 5 -GFP integrin construct we use has been used before [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] . The α V -mEmerald construct is in the Addgene repository under Michael's Davidson's unpublished constructs, but similar constructs in which the fluorescent protein is attached at t...