Acto-myosin based response to stiffness and rigidity sensing

Cells sense the rigidity of their environment and respond to it. Most studies have been focused on the role of adhesion complexes in rigidity sensing. In particular, it has been clearly shown that proteins of the adhesion complexes were stretch-sensitive, and could thus trigger mechano-chemical signaling in response to applied forces. In order to understand how this local mechano-sensitivity could be coordinated at the cell scale, we have recently carried out single cell traction force measurements on springs of varying stiffness. We found that contractility at the cell scale (force, speed of contraction, mechanical power) was indeed adapted to external stiffness, and reflected ATPase activity of non-muscle myosin II and acto-myosin response to load. Here we suggest a scenario of rigidity sensing where local adhesions sensitivity to force could be coordinated by adaptation of the acto-myosin dependent cortical tension at the global cell scale. Such a scenario could explain how spreading and migration are oriented by the rigidity of the cell environment.