Journal
NANO LETTERS
Volume 13, Issue 9, Pages 3985-3989Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/nl4005145
Keywords
Mechanobiology; integrin; focal adhesion; single molecule; tension; mechanotransduction; traction force microscopy
Categories
Funding
- Stanford Bio-X IIP award
- National Science Foundation (NSF) under Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) [1136790]
- National Institute of Health (NIH) New Innovator Award [IDP2OD007078]
- Stanford Cardiovascular Institute Seed Grant
- Burroughs-Wellcome Career Award at the Scientific Interface
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship [1000121811]
- Stanford Graduate Fellowship
- Stanford Neuroscience Microscopy Service [NIH NS069375]
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Living cells are exquisitely responsive to mechanical cues, yet how cells produce and detect mechanical force remains poorly understood due to a lack of methods that visualize cell-generated forces at the molecular scale. Here we describe Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based molecular tension sensors that allow us to directly visualize cell-generated forces with single-molecule sensitivity. We apply these sensors to determine the distribution of forces generated by individual integrins, a class of cell adhesion molecules with prominent roles throughout cell and developmental biology. We observe strikingly complex distributions of tensions within individual focal adhesions. FRET values measured for single probe molecules suggest that relatively modest tensions at the molecular level are sufficient to drive robust cellular adhesion.
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