Berlin 2018 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 10: Postersession II
BP 10.1: Poster
Montag, 12. März 2018, 17:30–19:30, Poster C
Mechanical Properties of Intermediate Filaments — Johanna Block1, Hannes Witt2, Julia Kraxner1, Charlotta Lorenz1, •Anna Schepers1, Andreas Janshoff2, and Sarah Köster1 — 1Institute for X-Ray Physics, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany — 2Institute of Physical Chemistry, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany
Different cell types exhibit different mechanical properties which are determined by the cytoskeleton. Microtubules and microfilaments are conserved throughout all metazoan cell types, whereas different intermediate filaments (IFs) are expressed in a cell-type specific manner. Therefore, IFs are believed to play a major role in determining the mechanical properties of the different cell types. Using optical tweezers, combined with microfluidics and fluorescent microscopy, we directly probed the stretching behavior of single IFs. Under physiological buffer conditions and due to varying stretching protocols we found a strong loading rate dependent behavior as well as a tensile memory and a pronounced energy dissipation for the IF vimentin. By theoretical modeling and Monte Carlo simulations we are able to fit our data and link the results to the molecular structure of vimentin.