Regensburg 2016 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 58: Cytoskeletal Filaments

BP 58.7: Vortrag

Donnerstag, 10. März 2016, 11:15–11:30, H44

Mechanical Properties of Single Vimentin Intermediate Filaments — •Johanna Block¹, Andrea Candelli², Jordi Cabanas Danes³, and Sarah Köster¹ — ¹Institute for X-Ray Physics, University of Göttingen, Germany — ²LUMICKS, Amsterdam, The Netherlands — ³Physics of Living Systems, VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The cytoskeleton plays a fundamental role for the mechanical integrity of biological cells. The cytoskeleton of eukaryotic cells is composed of three types of filaments: microfilaments (MFs) built up from actin monomers, microtubules (MTs) and intermediate filaments (IFs). While MFs and MTs have been of interest for biophysicists since decades, IFs moved to the center of attention only some years ago. The aim of our work is to characterize the mechanical properties of fluorescently labeled single vimentin filaments in solution. Using combined optical tweezers and fluorescent microscopy we test the mechanical properties of the filaments in a very controlled way and image them simultaneously. By analyzing the filament behavior under different stretching conditions and comparing glutaraldehyde-fixed and unfixed filaments, we gain knowledge about the stretchability, the elastic behavior and the involved molecular mechanisms such as subunit gliding or α-helix to β-sheet transition. From our data we hypothesize that many of the specific mechanical properties of IFs are encoded in their molecular architecture, which differs considerably from that of MTs and MFs. By probing single vimentin IFs we further the understanding of these important determinants for cell mechanics.