Cell stretching is amplified by active actin remodelling to deform and recruit proteins in mechanosensitive structures.

Detection and conversion of mechanical forces into biochemical signals controls cell functions during physiological and pathological processes. Mechanosensing is based on protein deformations and reorganizations, yet the molecular mechanisms are still unclear. Using a cell-stretching device compatible with super-resolution microscopy and single-protein tracking, we explored the nanoscale deformations and reorganizations of individual proteins inside mechanosensitive structures. We achieved super-resolution microscopy after live stretching on intermediate filaments, microtubules and integrin adhesions. Simultaneous single-protein tracking and stretching showed that while integrins followed the elastic deformation of the substrate, actin filaments and talin also displayed lagged and transient inelastic responses associated with active acto-myosin remodelling and talin deformations. Capturing acute reorganizations of single molecules during stretching showed that force-dependent vinculin recruitment is delayed and depends on the maturation of integrin adhesions. Thus, cells respond to external forces by amplifying transiently and locally cytoskeleton displacements, enabling protein deformation and recruitment in mechanosensitive structures.

Single Actin Bundle Rheology.

Bundled actin structures play an essential role in the mechanical response of the actin cytoskeleton in eukaryotic cells. Although responsible for crucial cellular processes, they are rarely investigated in comparison to single filaments and isotropic networks. Presenting a highly anisotropic structure, the determination of the mechanical properties of individual bundles was previously achieved through passive approaches observing bending deformations induced by thermal fluctuations. We present a new method to determine the bending stiffness of individual bundles, by measuring the decay of an actively induced oscillation. This approach allows us to systematically test anisotropic, bundled structures. Our experiments revealed that thin, depletion force-induced bundles behave as semiflexible polymers and obey the theoretical predictions determined by the wormlike chain model. Thickening an individual bundle by merging it with other bundles enabled us to study effects that are solely based on the number of involved filaments. These thicker bundles showed a frequency-dependent bending stiffness, a behavior that is inconsistent with the predictions of the wormlike chain model. We attribute this effect to internal processes and give a possible explanation with regard to the wormlike bundle theory.

Transition from a Linear to a Harmonic Potential in Collective Dynamics of a Multifilament Actin Bundle.

Attractive depletion forces between rodlike particles in highly crowded environments have been shown through recent modeling and experimental approaches to induce different structural and dynamic signatures depending on relative orientation between rods. For example, it has been demonstrated that the axial attraction between two parallel rods yields a linear energy potential corresponding to a constant contractile force of 0.1 pN. Here, we extend pairwise, depletion-induced interactions to a multifilament level with actin bundles, and find contractile forces up to 3 pN. Forces generated due to bundle relaxation were not constant, but displayed a harmonic potential and decayed exponentially with a mean decay time of 3.4 s. Through an analytical model, we explain these different fundamental dynamics as an emergent, collective phenomenon stemming from the additive, pairwise interactions of filaments within a bundle.

Fluorescent beads disintegrate actin networks.

We studied the influence of fluorescent polystyrene beads on both entangled and cross-linked actin networks. Thermal bead fluctuations were observed via video particle tracking and analyzed with one-point microrheology. Illumination of fluorescent beads with their appropriate excitation wavelength leads to a drastic softening of actin gels. Other wavelengths and bright field microscopy do not increase thermal bead fluctuations. This effect cannot be significantly reduced by adding common oxygen scavengers. We conclude that the usage of fluorescent beads impairs results when studying the microrheology of actin networks.

Transiently crosslinked F-actin bundles.

F-actin bundles are prominent cytoskeletal structures in eukaryotes. They provide mechanical stability in stereocilia, microvilli, filopodia, stress fibers and the sperm acrosome. Bundles are typically stabilized by a wide range of specific crosslinking proteins, most of which exhibit off-rates on the order of 1s(-1). Yet F-actin bundles exhibit structural and mechanical integrity on time scales that are orders of magnitude longer. By applying large deformations to reconstituted F-actin bundles using optical tweezers, we provide direct evidence of their differential mechanical response in vitro: bundles exhibit fully reversible, elastic response on short time scales and irreversible, elasto-plastic response on time scales that are long compared to the characteristic crosslink dissociation time. Our measurements show a broad range of characteristic relaxation times for reconstituted F-actin bundles. This can be reconciled by considering that bundle relaxation behavior is also modulated by the number of filaments, crosslinking type and occupation number as well as the consideration of defects due to filament ends.