FRET-based tension measurement across actin-associated mechanotransductive structures using Lima1

Wide and high resolution tension measurement using FRET in embryo

During embryonic development, physical force plays an important role in morphogenesis and differentiation. Stretch sensitive fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) has the potential to provide non-invasive tension measurements inside living tissue. In this study, we introduced a FRET-based actinin tension sensor into Xenopus laevis embryos and demonstrated that this sensor captures varia...

Computational Tension Mapping of Adherent Cells Based on Actin Imaging

Forces transiting through the cytoskeleton are known to play a role in adherent cell activity. Up to now few approaches haves been able to determine theses intracellular forces. We thus developed a computational mechanical model based on a reconstruction of the cytoskeleton of an adherent cell from fluorescence staining of the actin network and focal adhesions (FA). Our custom made algorithm co...

Actin Filaments as Tension Sensors

The field of mechanobiology has witnessed an explosive growth over the past several years as interest has greatly increased in understanding how mechanical forces are transduced by cells and how cells migrate, adhere and generate traction. Actin, a highly abundant and anomalously conserved protein, plays a large role in forming the dynamic cytoskeleton that is so essential for cell form, motili...

Understanding homo-FRET and Its Measurement

Topological Mapping for Tension Structures

The “form finding” methods for tension structures may be classified into two different groups: the linear and nonlinear methods. One of the linear methods is the force density method FDM . In this paper advantage is taken of an important property of the FDM by which knowledge of the initial position of the nonfixed nodes of the structure is not needed, only the connectivity of the nodes is nece...