ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: To date, ANLN has definite roles in altering cell shape, regulating cell-cell junction integrity in interphase and stabilizing actomyosin contractile rings in cytokinesis, but its effects on cell mechanical properties and on cytoskeletal proteins have rarely been reported. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of ANLN deletion on the mechanical properties and cytoskeleton of interphase Hela cells. METHODS: Surface elastic modulus and membrane rupture force of normal untreated Hela cells and ANLN RNA stably knocked down Hela cells were measured by atomic force microscopy. We screened for the cells that stably expressed mCherry-Myosin II A, and observed the distribution characteristics of cytoskeletal proteins by laser scanning confocal microscopy. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) The elastic modulus of Hela cells with ANLN stably knocked down was significantly higher than that of normal Hela cells, and the elastic modulus of normal cells were more prone to polar distribution (gradually decreasing between the two poles) than that of ANLN knockdown Hela cells. However, there was no significant difference in the membrane rupture force at the long-axis edge region between the two groups. (2) Myosin IIA lowly expressed in the marginal region of ANLN knockdown cells. (3) The actin fibers tended to be scattered in the near-bottom cell-cell junction region of the ANLN knockdown group, and there were no obvious intracellular fibers bundles arranging along the long axis. The cell gap tended to enlarge in the middle layer. To conclude, ANLN knockdown cells have the greatest impact in the marginal region, the deficiency of ANLN leads to a more frequent remodeling in the cell marginal region, and the cells need to accumulate more cytoskeletal proteins and binding proteins to stabilize the cell state, resulting in higher modulus of elastics.