Model of Cell Crawling Controlled by Mechanosensitive Adhesion.

Area of Science:

• Biophysics
• Cellular mechanics
• Soft matter physics

Background:

• Cells and biomimetic objects move by exerting traction forces on substrates.
• Adhesive linkers mediate cell-substrate interactions through stochastic binding and unbinding.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the role of adhesion kinetics and mechanosensitivity in cell motility.
• To determine how varying binding and unbinding rates affect cell translocation.
• To analyze directed motion based on different linker properties (slip vs. catch bonds).

Main Methods:

• Modeling of model cells and biomimetic soft objects.
• Analysis of traction forces generated by molecular complexes.
• Stochastic modeling of linker binding and unbinding dynamics.
• Investigation of force dipole diffusion coefficients.

Main Results:

• Diffusion coefficient for a force dipole is maximized at a specific unbinding-to-binding rate ratio.
• Directed cell motion requires mechanosensitive linkers (slip or catch bonds).
• Catch bonds yield higher average migration speeds but also increased fluctuations compared to slip bonds.

Conclusions:

• Adhesion kinetics significantly influence cell translocation dynamics.
• Mechanosensitivity of cell-substrate linkers is crucial for directed cell migration.
• The balance between speed and fluctuations in migration depends on the type of mechanosensitive bond (slip vs. catch).