Do membrane undulations help cells probe the world?

Cells sense physical properties of their environment including substratum rigidity, roughness, and topography of recognition sites. The cell surface displays continuous deformations of nanometer-scale amplitude and Hz frequency. Recent results support the hypothesis that these surface undulations co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in cell biology 2009-09, Vol.19 (9), p.428-433
Main Authors: Pierres, Anne, Monnet-Corti, Virginie, Benoliel, Anne-Marie, Bongrand, Pierre
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology
Biophysics
Cell Membrane - chemistry
Cell Membrane - physiology
Cellular Biology
Humans
Life Sciences
Pathology
Protein Binding
Receptors, Cell Surface - metabolism
Signal Transduction
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Summary:Cells sense physical properties of their environment including substratum rigidity, roughness, and topography of recognition sites. The cell surface displays continuous deformations of nanometer-scale amplitude and Hz frequency. Recent results support the hypothesis that these surface undulations constitute a powerful strategy for the rapid acquisition of environmental cues: transient contact with surroundings generates forces of piconewton intensity as a result of rapid formation and dissociation of intermolecular bonds. The combination of binding and steric forces is expected to drive conformational changes and lateral reorganization of membrane biomolecules, thus generating signaling cascades. We propose that spontaneous membrane mobility shapes the initial information generated by cell-to-surface contacts, and thereby biases later consequences of these interactions.
ISSN:0962-8924
1879-3088
DOI:10.1016/j.tcb.2009.05.009