ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2011
Actin disassembly clock determines shape and speed of lamellipodial fragments.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers.
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47 citing papers in PubMed.
- Rapid actin filament turnover maintains cortical connectivity while allowing for cell cortex deformation and flow.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Mechanical signaling through membrane tension induces somal translocation during neuronal migration.The EMBO journal · 2025Article
- Intracellular pressure controls the propagation of tension in crumpled cell membranes.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Active membrane deformations of a minimal synthetic cell.Nature physics · 2025Article
- Length control emerges from cytoskeletal network geometry.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- A continuum mechanical model of cell motion driven by a biphasic traction stress.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2024Article
- Length control emerges from cytoskeletal network geometry.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Connexin 43 mediated collective cell migration is independent of Golgi orientation.Biology open · 2023Article
- Switch of cell migration modes orchestrated by changes of three-dimensional lamellipodium structure and intracellular diffusion.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Article
- On the role of myosin-induced actin depolymerization during cell migration.Molecular biology of the cell · 2023Article
- Tether-guided lamellipodia enable rapid wound healing.Biophysical journal · 2022Article
- Local actin dynamics couple speed and persistence in a cellular Potts model of cell migration.Biophysical journal · 2021Article
- Cell Fragment Formation, Migration, and Force Exertion on Extracellular Mimicking Fiber Nanonets.Advanced biology · 2021Article
- Elastic wrinkling of keratocyte lamellipodia driven by myosin-induced contractile stress.Biophysical journal · 2021Article
- Overview of CaExploration of targeted anti-tumor therapy · 2021Review
- Stick-slip model for actin-driven cell protrusions, cell polarization, and crawling.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
- Cell Mechanics at the Rear Act to Steer the Direction of Cell Migration.Cell systems · 2020Article
- Towards a structural understanding of the remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton.Seminars in cell & developmental biology · 2020Review
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Abstract
A central challenge in motility research is to quantitatively understand how numerous molecular building blocks self-organize to achieve coherent shape and movement on cellular scales. A classic example of such self-organization is lamellipodial motility in which forward translocation is driven by a treadmilling actin network. Actin polymerization has been shown to be mechanically restrained by membrane tension in the lamellipodium. However, it remains unclear how membrane tension is determined, what is responsible for retraction and shaping of the rear boundary, and overall how actin-driven protrusion at the front is coordinated with retraction at the rear. To answer these questions, we utilize lamellipodial fragments from fish epithelial keratocytes which lack a cell body but retain the ability to crawl. The absence of the voluminous cell body in fragments simplifies the relation between lamellipodial geometry and cytoskeletal dynamics. We find that shape and speed are highly correlated over time within individual fragments, whereby faster crawling is accompanied by larger front-to-rear lamellipodial length. Furthermore, we find that the actin network density decays exponentially from front-to-rear indicating a constant net disassembly rate. These findings lead us to a simple hypothesis of a disassembly clock mechanism in which rear position is determined by where the actin network has disassembled enough for membrane tension to crush it and haul it forward. This model allows us to directly relate membrane tension with actin assembly and disassembly dynamics and elucidate the role of the cell membrane as a global mechanical regulator which coordinates protrusion and retraction.
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