Inferring intra-cellular mechanics using geometric metamorphosis: A preliminary study.

Area of Science:

• Cell Biology
• Biophysics
• Mechanobiology

Background:

• Mechanotransduction is crucial for sub-cellular processes.
• Accurate measurement of intracellular forces and strains is vital for quantitative cellular behavior models.
• Existing techniques like traction force microscopy face limitations with unstable cellular structures or when cells cannot be seeded on specific substrates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and apply a novel method for determining cellular kinematic profiles during cell division.
• To overcome limitations of existing techniques that rely on stable landmarks.
• To enable quantitative modeling of cellular behavior by providing detailed kinematic data.

Main Methods:

• Application of geometric metamorphosis, a global image registration technique.
• Tracking the cell wall over time to determine a sequence of transformations.
• Enforcing constraints such as volume conservation during registration.
• Construction of a statistical atlas of cell wall kinematics from multiple experiments.

Main Results:

• Successfully determined the kinematic profile of a cell during cell division using geometric metamorphosis.
• The method does not require stable landmarks and performs non-local registration.
• Generated transformations describing cell wall dynamics from the start of cytokinesis to daughter cell separation.
• Created a statistical atlas representing cell wall kinematics.

Conclusions:

• Geometric metamorphosis provides a robust method for quantifying cell division kinematics.
• The derived kinematic data can be used in a Lagrangian frame of reference for modeling material point properties.
• Demonstrated the utility by simulating stress-fiber configuration changes during cell deformation using the kinematic atlas.