High stretchability, strength, and toughness of living cells enabled by hyperelastic vimentin intermediate filaments.

ABSTRACT: In many developmental and pathological processes, including cellular migration during normal development and invasion in cancer metastasis, cells are required to withstand severe deformations. The structural integrity of eukaryotic cells under small deformations has been known to depend on the cytoskeleton including actin filaments (F-actin), microtubules (MT), and intermediate filaments (IFs). However, it remains unclear how cells resist severe deformations since both F-actin and microtubules yield or disassemble under moderate strains. Using vimentin containing IFs (VIFs) as a model for studying the large family of IF proteins, we demonstrate that they dominate cytoplasmic mechanics and maintain cell viability at large deformations. Our results show that cytoskeletal VIFs form a stretcha

SUBMITTER: Hu J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6717279 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature