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Single Cell Durotaxis Assay for Assessing Mechanical Control of Cellular Movement and Related Signaling Events
Published on: August 27, 2019
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Collective cell durotaxis emerges from long-range intercellular force transmission.
Raimon Sunyer1, Vito Conte1, Jorge Escribano2
1Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|September 10, 2016
Summary
Multicellular clusters show emergent durotaxis, a directed cell migration ability not seen in single cells. This collective behavior, driven by cell-matrix interactions and cell-cell junctions, is crucial for development and disease.
Area of Science:
- Cell biology
- Biophysics
- Tissue engineering
Background:
- Cellular durotaxis, the ability of cells to sense and migrate along stiffness gradients, is vital in biological processes.
- Individual cell durotaxis is well-studied, but collective cell migration in response to stiffness is less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate emergent durotaxis in multicellular clusters.
- To elucidate the mechanisms underlying collective cell migration in response to extracellular matrix stiffness gradients.
- To develop a model explaining collective durotaxis.
Main Methods:
- Studied durotaxis in various epithelial cell types using multicellular clusters.
- Investigated the role of myosin motors and supracellular force transmission.
- Developed and utilized a generalized clutch model integrating cell-matrix and cell-cell junction dynamics.
Main Results:
- Multicellular clusters exhibited durotaxis even when individual cells did not.
- Collective durotaxis requires myosin motor activity and supracellular force transmission.
- The developed clutch model successfully explained the observed collective durotaxis phenomenology.
Conclusions:
- Collective durotaxis is an emergent property of multicellular systems.
- This mechanism is significantly more efficient than single-cell durotaxis.
- Collective durotaxis plays a key role in development, wound healing, and cancer invasion.
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