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Pearling in cells: a clue to understanding cell shape.

R Bar-Ziv¹, T Tlusty, E Moses

¹Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|September 1, 1999

Summary

Disrupting cell actin structures causes shape changes, forming "pearls." A new theory explains this pearling instability by modeling the actin shell

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Area of Science:

Cell biology
Biophysics
Cytoskeleton dynamics

Background:

Actin cytoskeleton disruption leads to cellular shape changes.
Cylindrical cell extensions can transform into periodic
pearl
structures.

Purpose of the Study:

To explain the mechanism behind cell pearling instability.
To quantitatively link actin disruption to structural changes.
To develop a theoretical model for cell shape dynamics.

Main Methods:

Inducing actin cytoskeleton disruption with drugs.
Quantitative measurements of pearling wavelength.
Developing a theoretical framework based on actin shell rigidity and tension.

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Main Results:

Observed a square-root relationship between pearling wavelength and drug concentration.
The developed theory accurately predicts observed pearling phenomena.
The model allows for estimation of actin shell rigidity and thickness.

Conclusions:

Cell pearling is driven by the interplay between actin shell rigidity and adhesion-induced tension.
The theoretical model provides insights into cell shape regulation.
The findings are applicable to understanding nonadherent cell edge morphology.