Adaptive rheology and ordering of cell cytoskeleton govern matrix rigidity sensing

Mukund Gupta, Bibhu Ranjan Sarangi, Joran Deschamps, Yasaman Nematbakhsh, Andrew Callan-Jones, Felix Margadant, René-Marc Mège, Chwee Teck Lim, Raphaël Voituriez () and Benoît Ladoux ()
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Mukund Gupta: Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore
Bibhu Ranjan Sarangi: Institut Jacques Monod (IJM), CNRS UMR 7592, Université Paris Diderot
Joran Deschamps: Institut Jacques Monod (IJM), CNRS UMR 7592, Université Paris Diderot
Yasaman Nematbakhsh: NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering
Andrew Callan-Jones: Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes (MSC), UMR 7057 CNRS, Université Paris Diderot
Felix Margadant: Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore
René-Marc Mège: Institut Jacques Monod (IJM), CNRS UMR 7592, Université Paris Diderot
Chwee Teck Lim: Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore
Raphaël Voituriez: Laboratoire de Physique Thèorique de la Matière Condensée, CNRS/UPMC
Benoît Ladoux: Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Matrix rigidity sensing regulates a large variety of cellular processes and has important implications for tissue development and disease. However, how cells probe matrix rigidity, and hence respond to it, remains unclear. Here, we show that rigidity sensing and adaptation emerge naturally from actin cytoskeleton remodelling. Our in vitro experiments and theoretical modelling demonstrate a biphasic rheology of the actin cytoskeleton, which transitions from fluid on soft substrates to solid on stiffer ones. Furthermore, we find that increasing substrate stiffness correlates with the emergence of an orientational order in actin stress fibres, which exhibit an isotropic to nematic transition that we characterize quantitatively in the framework of active matter theory. These findings imply mechanisms mediated by a large-scale reinforcement of actin structures under stress, which could be the mechanical drivers of substrate stiffness-dependent cell shape changes and cell polarity.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8525

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