Regensburg 2025 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 25: Cell Mechanics II
BP 25.7: Talk
Thursday, March 20, 2025, 11:30–11:45, H44
Direct mechanical communication of cellular to nuclear shape in oocytes — •Bart Vos1, Yamini Vadapalli2, Till Muenker1, Peter Lenart2, and Timo Betz1 — 1Third Institute of Physics, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany — 2Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany
Mechanics play a crucial role in a wide range of cellular processes, from differentiation to division and metastatic invasion. Additionally, mechanical signaling can regulate protein expression. Although the mechanical properties of the cytoskeleton, providing shape, motility and mechanical stability to the cell, have been extensively studied, remarkably little is known about the mechanical environment within the nucleus of a cell and the exact mechanisms of force transduction between the cytoplasm to the nucleus.
To address these questions, we apply external deformations to oocytes of different species to observe how cellular deformations can be transmitted to the nucleus, leading to nuclear deformations. We combine this with optical tweezers-based microrheology in the cellular nucleus, allowing a direct comparison between intracellular and intranuclear mechanics. The observed viscoelastic behavior of the nucleoplasm on various time scales is profoundly different from the cytoskeleton. In addition, we probe the role of activity in the mechanics of the nucleus. Depending on the mechanical properties of the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm, nuclei can be highly susceptible to external strain or be largely shielded, suggesting a mechanical communication that might be relevant for proper oocyte function.
Keywords: Cell mechanics; Nuclear mechanics; Microrheology; Oocytes