2025/01/18 by Yuan Ren, Jie Yang, Takumi Saito +11 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Cellular Mechanics and Interactions #Mechanical and Optical Resonators
paper · pdf · doi:10.1101/2025.01.16.633409
Abstract Mechanical forces are critical for virtually all fundamental biological processes, yet quantification of mechanical forces at the molecular scale in vivo remains challenging. Here, we present a new strategy using calibrated coiled coils as genetically encoded, compact, tunable, and modular mechano-sensors to substantially simplify force measurement in vivo , via diverse readouts (luminescence, fluorescence and analytical biochemistry) and instrumentation readily available in biology labs. We demonstrate the broad applicability and ease-of-use of these coiled coil mechano-sensors by measuring forces during cytokinesis (formin Cdc12) and endocytosis (epsin Ent1) in yeast, force distributions in nematode axons (β-spectrin UNC-70), and forces transmitted to the nucleus (mini-nesprin-2G) and within focal adhesions (vinculin) in mammalian cells. We report discoveries in intracellular force transmission that have been elusive to existing tools.