Dresden 2017 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 9: Posters - Cell Mechanics

BP 9.10: Poster

Monday, March 20, 2017, 17:30–19:30, P3

Regulation of muscle contraction by Drebrin-like protein 1 probed by atomic force microscopy — •Peter Weist, Eugenia Butkevich, Dieter R. Klopfenstein, Renata Garces, and Christoph F. Schmidt — Drittes Physikalisches Institut-Biophysik, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany

Sarcomeres are the fundamental contractile units of striated muscle cells. They are composed of a variety of structural and regulatory proteins functioning in a precisely orchestrated fashion to enable coordinated force generation in muscles. Recently, we have identified a drebrin-like protein 1 (DBN-1) as a novel sarcomere component in the nematode C. elegans. DBN-1 stabilizes actin filaments during muscle contraction. Absence of DBN-1 results in a unique worm movement phenotype,characterized by hyper-bending. The origin of the hyper-bending is not clear yet. DBN-1 could have a regulatory role in proper muscle contraction. The phenotype of the knockout of DBN-1 protein could be caused by either enhanced contraction or enhanced relaxation of the muscles. We present here an experimental study on C.elegans muscle mechanics by atomic force microscopy. We measured the stiffness of the whole worm by gently indenting living C. elegans with a micron-sized sphere adhered to the cantilever of an atomic force microscope (AFM). Using chemical treatments in wild-type worms we probed that the degree of contraction of the muscle is directly related to the measured elastic compliance of the worm. We compared responses of wild-type and mutant C.elegans in which DBN-1 is not expressed.