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Causes of retrograde flow in fish keratocytes
Author(s) -
Fuhs Thomas,
Goegler Michael,
Brunner Claudia A.,
Wolgemuth Charles W.,
Kaes Josef A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
cytoskeleton
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.95
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1949-3592
pISSN - 1949-3584
DOI - 10.1002/cm.21151
Subject(s) - myosin , actin , biology , protein filament , molecular motor , depolymerization , biophysics , polymerization , actin remodeling , microbiology and biotechnology , actin cytoskeleton , cytoskeleton , biochemistry , polymer , materials science , cell , composite material , polymer chemistry
Confronting motile cells with obstacles doubling as force sensors we tested the limits of the driving actin and myosin machinery. We could directly measure the force necessary to stop actin polymerization as well as the force present in the retrograde actin flow. Combined with detailed measurements of the retrograde flow velocity and specific manipulation of actin and myosin we found that actin polymerization and myosin contractility are not enough to explain the cells behavior. We show that ever‐present depolymerization forces, a direct entropic consequence of actin filament recycling, are sufficient to fill this gap, even under heavy loads. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.