Mechanics of force transmission in epithelia: From cell-to-cell propagation to nuclear response

Mechanical forces play essential roles during morphogenesis, enabling cells to change shape or reorganize to form new structures. Recent questions in the field of mechanobiology focus on how these locally generated forces propagate and the extent of their propagation. This phenomenon can be observed at multiple scales (across tissues, where supracellular actomyosin structures interconnected at cell-cell junctions transmit forces, or within individual cells, where mechanical cues can influence the nucleus). In the first part of this review, we highlight recent advances in our understanding of force propagation along epithelial apical surfaces, including factors that facilitate it, such as tissue curvature and polarity. In the second part, we examine how mechanical forces affect nuclear shape and integrity at the single-cell level, beginning with in vitro studies of nuclear responses to mechanical stress and extending to the less-explored mechanical behavior of nuclei in more complex, integrated model systems.