Shell tension forces propelDictyosteliumslugs forward

Dynamics of centipede locomotion revealed by large-scale traction force microscopy

We present a novel approach to traction force microscopy (TFM) for studying the locomotion of 10 cm long walking centipedes on soft substrates. Leveraging the remarkable elasticity and ductility of kudzu starch gels, we use them as a deformable gel substrate, providing resilience against the centipedes' sharp leg tips. By optimizing fiducial marker size and density and fine-tuning imaging conditions, we enhance measurement accuracy. Our TFM investigation reveals traction forces along the centipede's longitudinal axis that effectively counterbalance inertial forces within the 0-10 mN range, providing the first report of non-vanishing inertia forces in TFM studies. Interestingly, we observe waves of forces propagating from the head to the tail of the centipede, corresponding to its locomotion speed. Furthermore, we discover a characteristic cycle of leg clusters engaging with the substrate: forward force (friction) upon leg tip contact, backward force (traction) as the leg pulls the substrate while stationary, and subsequent forward force as the leg tip detaches to reposition itself in the anterior direction. This work opens perspectives for TFM applications in ethology, tribology and robotics.

Lamins as structural nuclear elements through evolution

Lamins are nuclear intermediate filament proteins with important, well-established roles in humans and other vertebrates. Lamins interact with DNA and numerous proteins at the nuclear envelope to determine the mechanical properties of the nucleus, coordinate chromatin organization, and modulate gene expression. Many of these functions are conserved in the lamin homologs found in basal metazoan organisms, including Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans. Lamin homologs have also been recently identified in non-metazoans, like the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, yet how these proteins compare functionally to the metazoan isoforms is only beginning to emerge. A better understanding of these distantly related lamins is not only valuable for a more complete picture of eukaryotic evolution, but may also provide new insights into the function of vertebrate lamins.

2.5D Traction Force Microscopy: Imaging three-dimensional cell forces at interfaces and biological applications

The forces that cells, tissues, and organisms exert on the surface of a soft substrate can be measured using Traction Force Microscopy (TFM), an important and well-established technique in Mechanobiology. The usual TFM technique (two-dimensional, 2D TFM) treats only the in-plane component of the traction forces and omits the out-of-plane forces at the substrate interfaces (2.5D) that turn out to be important in many biological processes such as tissue migration and tumour invasion. Here, we review the imaging, material, and analytical tools to perform "2.5D TFM" and explain how they are different from 2D TFM. Challenges in 2.5D TFM arise primarily from the need to work with a lower imaging resolution in the z-direction, track fiducial markers in three-dimensions, and reliably and efficiently reconstruct mechanical stress from substrate deformation fields. We also discuss how 2.5D TFM can be used to image, map, and understand the complete force vectors in various important biological events of various length-scales happening at two-dimensional interfaces, including focal adhesions forces, cell diapedesis across tissue monolayers, the formation of three-dimensional tissue structures, and the locomotion of large multicellular organisms. We close with future perspectives including the use of new materials, imaging and machine learning techniques to continuously improve the 2.5D TFM in terms of imaging resolution, speed, and faithfulness of the force reconstruction procedure.

A new agarose-based microsystem to investigate cell response to prolonged confinement

Emerging evidence suggests the importance of mechanical stimuli in normal and pathological situations for the control of many critical cellular functions. While the effect of matrix stiffness has been and is still extensively studied, few studies have focused on the role of mechanical stresses. The main limitation of such analyses is the lack of standard in vitro assays enabling extended mechanical stimulation compatible with dynamic biological and biophysical cell characterization. We have developed an agarose-based microsystem, the soft cell confiner, which enables the precise control of confinement for single or mixed cell populations. The rigidity of the confiner matches physiological conditions and its porosity enables passive medium renewal. It is compatible with time-lapse microscopy, in situ immunostaining, and standard molecular analyses, and can be used with both adherent and non-adherent cell lines. Cell proliferation of various cell lines (hematopoietic cells, MCF10A epithelial breast cells and HS27A stromal cells) was followed for several days up to confluence using video-microscopy and further documented by Western blot and immunostaining. Interestingly, even though the nuclear projected area was much larger upon confinement, with many highly deformed nuclei (non-circular shape), cell viability, assessed by live and dead cell staining, was unaffected for up to 8 days in the confiner. However, there was a decrease in cell proliferation upon confinement for all cell lines tested. The soft cell confiner is thus a valuable tool to decipher the effects of long-term confinement and deformation on the biology of cell populations. This tool will be instrumental in deciphering the impact of nuclear and cytoskeletal mechanosensitivity in normal and pathological conditions involving highly confined situations, such as those reported upon aging with fibrosis or during cancer.

High-resolution traction force microscopy on small focal adhesions - improved accuracy through optimal marker distribution and optical flow tracking

The accurate determination of cellular forces using Traction Force Microscopy at increasingly small focal attachments to the extracellular environment presents an important yet substantial technical challenge. In these measurements, uncertainty regarding accuracy is prominent since experimental calibration frameworks at this size scale are fraught with errors – denying a gold standard against which accuracy of TFM methods can be judged. Therefore, we have developed a simulation platform for generating synthetic traction images that can be used as a benchmark to quantify the influence of critical experimental parameters and the associated errors. Using this approach, we show that TFM accuracy can be improved >35% compared to the standard approach by placing fluorescent beads as densely and closely as possible to the site of applied traction. Moreover, we use the platform to test tracking algorithms based on optical flow that measure deformation directly at the beads and show that these can dramatically outperform classical particle image velocimetry algorithms in terms of noise sensitivity and error. We then report how optimized experimental and numerical strategy can improve traction map accuracy, and further provide the best available benchmark to date for defining practical limits to TFM accuracy as a function of focal adhesion size.

Progress and perspectives in signal transduction, actin dynamics, and movement at the cell and tissue level: lessons from Dictyostelium

Movement of cells and tissues is a basic biological process that is used in development, wound repair, the immune response to bacterial invasion, tumour formation and metastasis, and the search for food and mates. While some cell movement is random, directed movement stimulated by extracellular signals is our focus here. This involves a sequence of steps in which cells first detect extracellular chemical and/or mechanical signals via membrane receptors that activate signal transduction cascades and produce intracellular signals. These intracellular signals control the motile machinery of the cell and thereby determine the spatial localization of the sites of force generation needed to produce directed motion. Understanding how force generation within cells and mechanical interactions with their surroundings, including other cells, are controlled in space and time to produce cell-level movement is a major challenge, and involves many issues that are amenable to mathematical modelling.

Periodic traction in migrating large amoeba of Physarum polycephalum

The slime mould Physarum polycephalum is a giant multinucleated cell exhibiting well-known Ca(2+)-dependent actomyosin contractions of its vein network driving the so-called cytoplasmic shuttle streaming. Its actomyosin network forms both a filamentous cortical layer and large fibrils. In order to understand the role of each structure in the locomotory activity, we performed birefringence observations and traction force microscopy on excised fragments of Physarum. After several hours, these microplasmodia adopt three main morphologies: flat motile amoeba, chain types with round contractile heads connected by tubes and motile hybrid types. Each type exhibits oscillations with a period of about 1.5 min of cell area, traction forces and fibril activity (retardance) when fibrils are present. The amoeboid types show only peripheral forces while the chain types present a never-reported force pattern with contractile rings far from the cell boundary under the spherical heads. Forces are mostly transmitted where the actomyosin cortical layer anchors to the substratum, but fibrils maintain highly invaginated structures and contribute to forces by increasing the length of the anchorage line. Microplasmodia are motile only when there is an asymmetry in the shape and/or the force distribution.

Traction force microscopy in physics and biology

Adherent cells, crawling slugs, peeling paint, sessile liquid drops, bearings and many other living and non-living systems apply forces to solid substrates. Traction force microscopy (TFM) provides spatially-resolved measurements of interfacial forces through the quantification and analysis of the deformation of an elastic substrate. Although originally developed for adherent cells, TFM has no inherent size or force scale, and can be applied to a much broader range of mechanical systems across physics and biology. In this paper, we showcase the wide range of applicability of TFM, describe the theory, and provide experimental details and code so that experimentalists can rapidly adopt this powerful technique.

Toward single cell traction microscopy within 3D collagen matrices

Mechanical interaction between the cell and its extracellular matrix (ECM) regulates cellular behaviors, including proliferation, differentiation, adhesion, and migration. Cells require the three-dimensional (3D) architectural support of the ECM to perform physiologically realistic functions. However, current understanding of cell-ECM and cell-cell mechanical interactions is largely derived from 2D cell traction force microscopy, in which cells are cultured on a flat substrate. 3D cell traction microscopy is emerging for mapping traction fields of single animal cells embedded in either synthetic or natively derived fibrous gels. We discuss here the development of 3D cell traction microscopy, its current limitations, and perspectives on the future of this technology. Emphasis is placed on strategies for applying 3D cell traction microscopy to individual tumor cell migration within collagen gels.