SKM 2023 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 28: Poster Session II

BP 28.35: Poster

Thursday, March 30, 2023, 18:00–20:00, P2/EG

Cell Shape and Tension alter Focal Adhesion Structure — Carolin Grandy¹, Fabian Port¹, •Jonas Pfeil¹, Mariana Azevedo Gonzalez Oliva², Massimo Vassalli², and Kay-Eberhard Gottschalk¹ — ¹Universität Ulm, Institut für experimentelle Physik, Ulm, Germany — ²University of Glasgow, James Watt School of Engineering, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Cells are anchored to the extracellular matrix via the focal adhesion complex. It also serves as a sensor for force transduction. We analyse the effect of tension on the location of key focal adhesion proteins vinculin, paxillin and actin. We use micropatterning on gold surfaces to manipulate the cell shape, to create focal adhesions at specific cell areas, and to perform metal-induced energy transfer (MIET) measurements on the patterned cells. We use drugs influencing the cellular motor protein myosin or mechanosensitive ion channels to get deeper insight into focal adhesions at different tension states. We show here that in particular actin is affected by the rationally tuned force balance. Blocking mechanosensitive ion channels has a particularly high influence on the actin and focal adhesion architecture, resulting in larger focal adhesions with elevated paxillin and vinculin and strongly lowered actin stress fibres. Our results can be explained by a balance of adhesion tension with cellular tension together with ion channel-controlled focal adhesion homeostasis, where high cellular tension leads to an elevation of vinculin and actin, while high adhesion tension lowers these proteins.