A clutch stretch goes a long way

Talin's springy role in force transmission and dynamic cellular bridging

2024-02-02

(Press-News.org) Kyoto, Japan -- Cell biology has possibly never jumped to the next level in the same way.

In multicellular organisms, cell migration and mechanosensing are essential for cellular development and maintenance. These processes rely on talin, the key focal adhesion -- or FA -- protein, central in connecting adjacent cellular matrices and enabling force transmission between them.

Talins are commonly considered fully extended at FAs between actin filaments -- or F-actin -- and the anchor-like integrin receptor.

Yet, a research team led by Kyoto University have previously observed that the actin network constantly moves over FAs as a single unit: a unique phenomenon contradicting prevailing notions.

"This begs the question: how does talin manage to simultaneously maintain the intercellular connection while transmitting force?" asks corresponding author Sawako Yamashiro at KyotoU's Graduate School of Life Sciences.

Most significantly, the team's results reveal a new mode of force transmission in which dynamic molecular stretching bridges the extracellular matrix and flowing F-actin moving at different speeds. This discovery underscores the necessity of molecular elasticity and random coupling for sufficiently transmitting force.

"On a human scale, this phenomenon can be visualized as a super flexible anime character. He is gripping onto a train passing at around 50 km/h," illustrates Yamashiro.

The train represents the flowing F-actin, while a station platform is the substrate. The superhero plays the talin FA protein that would either be carried away unstretched or remain on the substrate.

"Occasionally, however, when both ends of talin are firmly anchored, it gets stretched by the pull because some parts of this protein can unfold like a spring," explains Yamashiro.

Aided by intracellular fluorescent talin single-molecule imaging, Yamashiro's team observed and calculated that approximately 4% of the talin links the F-actin and the substrate via an elastic transient clutch. In contrast, the remaining majority are bound to either end.

These findings also call for revising the role of molecular unfolding, updating the traditional view that it functions as a mechanosensor and a shock absorber when molecules unfold under external force.

"However, our results suggest that molecular unfolding facilitates the transmission of force rather than absorbing it," says coauthor Dimitrios Vavylonis at Lehigh University.

"We can expect further use of intracellular single-molecule microscopy to witness other possible intra- and extra-cellular superheroic behaviours, such as talin's elastic transient clutch," concludes coauthor Naoki Watanabe, also at KyotoU's Graduate School of Life Sciences.

###

The paper "Force transmission by retrograde actin flow-induced dynamic molecular stretching of Talin" appeared on 20 December 2023 in Nature Communications, with doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-44018-z

About Kyoto University
Kyoto University is one of Japan and Asia's premier research institutions, founded in 1897 and responsible for producing numerous Nobel laureates and winners of other prestigious international prizes. A broad curriculum across the arts and sciences at undergraduate and graduate levels complements several research centers, facilities, and offices around Japan and the world. For more information, please see: http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Psychological care delivered over the phone is an effective way to combat loneliness and depression, according to a major new study

2024-02-02

The study, led by a team based at the University of York and Hull York Medical School and at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, found levels of depression reduced significantly and the benefits were greater than those seen for antidepressants. Participants in the study reported their levels of emotional loneliness fell by 21% over a three-month period and the benefits remained after the phone calls had ceased, suggesting an enduring impact. The Behavioural Activation in Social ...

Insulin prices in US are more than twice as high as in other wealthy nations

2024-02-02

The gross price of insulin in the U.S. is more than nine times higher than in 33 high-income comparison nations, according to a new RAND report. Although the cost differences of insulin between the U.S. and other nations varied depending on the comparison country and the type of insulin, U.S. prices were always higher -- often five to 10 times higher -- than those in other countries. The new report updates findings from earlier RAND work about U.S. insulin prices. After accounting for rebates and other discounts often offered by drug ...

My love language is peer-reviewed research

2024-02-02

Feb. 1, 2024, TORONTO – From the Five Love Languages to the concept of “Happy Wife, Happy Life,” popular culture is riddled with ideas of how sex and relationships are supposed to work, but does the science back these ideas up? According to Faculty of Health Assistant Professor and Research Chair in Relationships and Sexuality Amy Muise, the answer is frequently no. Ahead of Valentine’s Day, Muise, also director of the Sexual Health and Relationship (SHaRe) Lab, can offer alternative theories that are supported by her research and other literature in the ...

Husker researchers using metabolic model to study temperature stress on corn

2024-02-02

A research team led by Nebraska scientists has built the largest-ever metabolic model of corn to study how temperature stress affects the plant and how a certain fungus can help alleviate the problem. The research is an expansion of earlier work with a metabolic model of corn roots that the same team used to study the plant’s nitrogen-use efficiency under nitrogen stress conditions, said Rajib Saha, Richard L. and Carol S. McNeel associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and principal investigator. Saha and ...

New prescription drugs typically sold first in US

2024-02-01

Most new prescription drugs are sold first in the U.S. before they reach other nations, but ultimately important medications are sold across most wealthy nations within about a year of first sale, according to a new RAND report. Researchers say the study’s findings have implications for the debate over whether efforts to reduce high prescription costs in the U.S. could hurt patients’ access to the newest drug treatments. “Other wealthy nations -- all of which have much lower drug prices compared ...

Social inequity is linked to lower use of epidural in childbirth

2024-02-01

In a study of women in labor in the U. S., social inequity was associated with lower use of neuraxial analgesia -- an epidural or spinal pain reliever-- among non-Hispanic White women and, to a greater extent, among African American women, according to research at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S). The results are published online in Obstetrics & Gynecology. Neuraxial analgesia, which can be a combined spinal and epidural ...

For World Cancer Day, Alliance for Cancer Care Equity advocates to ‘close the care gap’ as observance is honored with congressional resolution

2024-02-01

WASHINGTON, D.C. [February 1, 2024] — For World Cancer Day, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®), American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), and the National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF) are announcing three key areas of policy focus as part of the Alliance for Cancer Care Equity (ACCE) joint collaboration, including advancing diversity in clinical trials, improving cancer screening and early detection, and increasing access to patient navigation. The organizations are also working with Congresswoman Terri Sewell (D-AL) to observe the day with a congressional ...

Applications open for School of Hologenomic Data Analysis For Agriculture

2024-02-01

The São Paulo School of Advanced Science on Hologenomic Data Analysis for Agriculture (Hologenome School) will be held from July 29 to August 09, 2024, in São Carlos (São Paulo state, Brazil) at the EMBRAPA Southeastern Livestock, Embrapa Instrumentation, decentralized units of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), and at the University of São Paulo’s Chemistry Institute of São Carlos (IQSC-USP). Hologenome School will provide students and young researchers with an interdisciplinary view of hologenomics and state-of-the-art ...

Insulin prices in US are nine times higher than in other wealthy nations, study finds

2024-02-01

Diabetes and liver cancer — Stanford Medicine study suggests new screening guidelines

2024-02-01

For centuries, doctors have used their hands as essential diagnostic tools — exploring joints and palpating abdomens to assess a patient’s health. Often a cancer will reveal itself as a lump or unusual stiffness in a normally bouncy tissue or organ. More recently, the relationship between stiffness and cancer has been documented through biophysical studies and clinical trials, particularly in liver and breast cancer. For example, stiffness is a primary hallmark of liver cirrhosis, which can progress to liver cancer. Now researchers ...

A clutch stretch goes a long way

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: