Regensburg 2025 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 17: Poster Session II
BP 17.43: Poster
Tuesday, March 18, 2025, 18:00–20:30, P4
Predicting mass density of eukaryotic nuclei and cells — •Omar Muñoz1,2,3, Abin Biswas1,3,4, Kyoohyun Kim1,3, Jochen Guck1,3, Vasily Zaburdaev1,2, and Simone Reber4,5 — 1Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin, Erlangen, Germany. — 2Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany — 3Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen, Germany — 4Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany — 5University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Biophysical properties of the cell nucleus are important for various cellular processes from transcription to migration, but largely are still not well understood. The mass density is one such example, since we observed for a wide range of species that the cells maintain a certain nuclear to cytoplasmic mass density ratio with nuclear mass density being lower than its cytoplasmic counterpart. Moreover, in diseased states such as senescence we observed a breakdown of this density ratio where dilution of the cytoplasm made nuclei appear more dense, which suggests that the density ratio is a potential marker of proper cell functionality. Theoretical modeling can contribute to a better understanding of how this density ratio is established. There are two essential model components: a pump leak model to predict compartment volume and a model to determine the dry mass in the system, which is usually an active, dynamic process. Here we present the models for different systems such as human cells, nuclei in Xenopus egg extract and discuss their differences.
Keywords: Cell Nucleus; Nuclear Transport; Pump Leak Model; Dry Mass Density