Joining forces: crosstalk between biochemical signalling and physical forces orchestrates cellular polarity and dynamics

Dynamic processes like cell migration and morphogenesis emerge from the self-organized interaction between signalling and cytoskeletal rearrangements. How are these molecular to sub-cellular scale processes integrated to enable cell-wide responses? A growing body of recent studies suggest that forces generated by cytoskeletal dynamics and motor activity at the cellular or tissue scale can organize processes ranging from cell movement, polarity and division to the coordination of responses across fields of cells. To do so, forces not only act mechanically but also engage with biochemical signalling. Here, we review recent advances in our understanding of this dynamic crosstalk between biochemical signalling, self-organized cortical actomyosin dynamics and physical forces with a special focus on the role of membrane tension in integrating cellular motility. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Self-organization in cell biology’.