Dresden 2014 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 7: Posters: Cell adhesion, mechanics and migration

BP 7.25: Poster

Montag, 31. März 2014, 17:30–19:30, P3

From cytoskeletal dynamics to collective cell migration - a Monte Carlo study — •Florian Martin, Claus Metzner, Janina Lange, and Ben Fabry — Biophysics Group, University of Erlangen

The growth of flat cell colonies on planar substrates is a spatial and temporal multi-scale process. Macroscopically and on long time scales, experiments show an almost deterministic increase of the colony radius and an outward streaming motion of individual cells. On mesoscopic time scales, cells change their shape within the monolayer and divide. Cell dynamics at shorter time scales is dominated by local cytoskeletal remodelling events, generating fluctuating traction forces that act on focal adhesions and are transmitted through cell-cell contacts. We present a bottom-up simulation of colony growth in which each cell is represented by a set of focal adhesions, attached to a dynamic stress fiber network that creates long-time correlated force fluctuations. The ongoing turn over of focal adhesions eventually leads to shape changes and migration of individual cells. As the proliferating and spreading cells are competing for adhesion sites on the substrate, a radial streaming motion emerges on a macroscopic scale. Also in agreement with measurements, the mean squared displacement of cytoskeletal markers shows a gradual transition from sub- to superdiffusive behaviour.