2020/05/29 by Pierre Sens, Sens, Pierre
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #Cell Behavior (q-bio.CB) #Cellular Mechanics and Interactions #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Micro and Nano Robotics #Microtubule and mitosis dynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2006.00122
openalex publication_date 2020/05/29 · openalex created_date 2022/07/26 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Cell crawling requires the generation of intracellular forces by the\ncytoskeleton and their transmission to an extracellular substrate through\nspecific adhesion molecules. Crawling cells show many features of excitable\nsystems, such as spontaneous symmetry breaking and crawling in the absence of\nexternal cues, and periodic and propagating waves of activity. Mechanical\ninstabilities in the active cytoskeleton network and feedback loops in the\nbiochemical network of activators and repressors of cytoskeleton dynamics have\nbeen invoked to explain these dynamical features. Here, we show that the\ninterplay between the dynamics of cell-substrate adhesion and linear cellular\nmechanics is sufficient to reproduce many non-linear dynamical patterns\nobserved in spreading and crawling cells. Using an analytical formalism of the\nmolecular clutch model of cell adhesion, regulated by local mechanical forces,\nwe show that cellular traction forces exhibit a stick-slip dynamics resulting\nin periodic waves of protrusion/retraction and propagating waves along the cell\nedge. This can explain spontaneous symmetry breaking and polarisation of\nspreading cells, leading to steady crawling or bipedal motion, and bistability,\nwhere persistent cell motion requires a sufficiently strong transient external\nstimulus. The model also highlight the role of membrane tension in providing\nthe long-range mechanical communication across the cell required for symmetry\nbreaking.\n