Featured
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Letter |
Force loading explains spatial sensing of ligands by cells
The formation of cellular adhesion complexes is important in normal and pathological cell activity, and is determined by the force imposed by the combined effect of the distribution of extracellular matrix molecules and substrate rigidity.
- Roger Oria
- , Tina Wiegand
- & Pere Roca-Cusachs
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Letter |
A non-canonical Notch complex regulates adherens junctions and vascular barrier function
The transmembrane domain of NOTCH1 plays a key role in the assembly of adherens junctions and the non-transcriptional regulation of vascular permeability that links transcriptional programs with adhesive and cytoskeletal remodelling.
- William J. Polacheck
- , Matthew L. Kutys
- & Christopher S. Chen
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Letter |
Transmission of cytokinesis forces via E-cadherin dilution and actomyosin flows
Under physiological forces, resulting from cytokinesis, the mechanosensitivity of adherens junction arises from a local decrease in E-cadherin concentration and results in actomyosin flows.
- Diana Pinheiro
- , Edouard Hannezo
- & Yohanns Bellaïche
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Letter |
Drosophila NOMPC is a mechanotransduction channel subunit for gentle-touch sensation
Mechanotransduction channels studied to date are mainly involved with sensing noxious mechanical stimuli; here NOMPC, a member of the TRP ion channel family, is identified as a pore-forming subunit of an ion channel essential to the sensation of gentle touch in Drosophila.
- Zhiqiang Yan
- , Wei Zhang
- & Yuh Nung Jan
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Letter |
Structure of a force-conveying cadherin bond essential for inner-ear mechanotransduction
A combination of structural, computational and biophysical tools is used to characterize the bond between tip-link proteins protocadherin 15 and cadherin 23, which have an essential role in inner-ear mechanotransduction; the bond, involving an extended protein handshake, is found to be affected by deafness mutations and is mechanically strong enough to resist forces in hair cells, adding to our understanding of hair-cell sensory transduction and interactions among cadherins.
- Marcos Sotomayor
- , Wilhelm A. Weihofen
- & David P. Corey
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Letter |
Mechanical strain in actin networks regulates FilGAP and integrin binding to filamin A
- A. J. Ehrlicher
- , F. Nakamura
- & T. P. Stossel
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Review Article |
Dynamic molecular processes mediate cellular mechanotransduction
- Brenton D. Hoffman
- , Carsten Grashoff
- & Martin A. Schwartz
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Letter |
Forces between clustered stereocilia minimize friction in the ear on a subnanometre scale
- Andrei S. Kozlov
- , Johannes Baumgart
- & A. J. Hudspeth
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Letter |
A tension-induced mechanotransduction pathway promotes epithelial morphogenesis
This study describes a mechanotransduction pathway that links the body wall with the epidermis in Caenorhabditis elegans. The pathway involves the p21 activated kinase PAK 1, an adaptor GIT 1 and its partner PIX 1. Tension exerted by muscles or external pressure keeps GIT 1 on station at hemidesmosomes — the small rivet like bodies that attach epidermal cells to the underlying musculature — and stimulates PAK 1 through PIX 1 and Rac GTPase. The C. elegans hemidesmosome is more than a passive attachment structure, therefore, but a sensor that responds to tension by triggering signalling processes.
- Huimin Zhang
- , Frédéric Landmann
- & Michel Labouesse
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Mechanics of a multilayer epithelium instruct tumour architecture and function
Role of YAP/TAZ in mechanotransduction
Cell mechanics and the cytoskeleton