3D single cell migration driven by temporal correlation between oscillating force dipoles.
Fiche publication
Date publication
juillet 2022
Journal
eLife
Auteurs
Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Pr RIVELINE Daniel, Dr HARLEPP Sébastien
Tous les auteurs :
Godeau AL, Leoni M, Comelles J, Guyomar T, Lieb M, Delanoë-Ayari H, Ott A, Harlepp S, Sens P, Riveline D
Lien Pubmed
Résumé
Directional cell locomotion requires symmetry breaking between the front and rear of the cell. In some cells, symmetry breaking manifests itself in a directional flow of actin from the front to the rear of the cell. Many cells, especially in physiological 3D matrices do not show such coherent actin dynamics and present seemingly competing protrusion/retraction dynamics at their front and back. How symmetry breaking manifests itself for such cells is therefore elusive. We take inspiration from the scallop theorem proposed by Purcell for micro-swimmers in Newtonian fluids: self-propelled objects undergoing persistent motion at low Reynolds number must follow a cycle of shape changes that breaks temporal symmetry. We report similar observations for cells crawling in 3D. We quantified cell motion using a combination of 3D live cell imaging, visualization of the matrix displacement and a minimal model with multipolar expansion. We show that our cells embedded in a 3D matrix form myosin-driven force dipoles at both sides of the nucleus, that locally and periodically pinch the matrix. The existence of a phase shift between the two dipoles is required for directed cell motion which manifests itself as cycles with finite area in the dipole-quadrupole diagram, a formal equivalence to the Purcell cycle. We confirm this mechanism by triggering local dipolar contractions with a laser. This leads to directed motion. Our study reveals that these cells control their motility by synchronizing dipolar forces distributed at front and back. This result opens new strategies to externally control cell motion as well as for the design of micro-crawlers.
Mots clés
physics of living systems
Référence
Elife. 2022 07 28;11: