Cellular motility articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    When studying nematic ordering of cells in a monolayer, it is commonly assumed that the principal stress and cell shape axes are tightly coupled. Here, the authors measure cell shape and cell-generated contractile stresses and show that cells in monolayers form correlated, dynamic domains in which the stresses are systematically misaligned with the cell bodies.

    • Mehrana R. Nejad
    • , Liam J. Ruske
    •  & Julia M. Yeomans

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A common approach to study bacterial motility is fluorescent labelling, but this can be hampered by protein expression instability and/or interference with bacterial physiology. Here, Abe et al. describe a machine learning-based method for motion tracking of spirochetes on cultured animal cells, which does not require labelling and might be applied to study motility of other bacterial species.

    • Keigo Abe
    • , Nobuo Koizumi
    •  & Shuichi Nakamura

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In 1952, Turing unlocked the reaction-diffusion basis of natural patterns, such as zebra stripes. The authors propose a reaction-diffusion model that recreates characteristics of the flagellar waveform for bull sperm and Chlamydomonas flagella.

    • James F. Cass
    •  & Hermes Bloomfield-Gadêlha

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Collective motion arises from the coordination of individuals and entails the adjustment of their respective velocities. Yet, how individuals achieve this coordination is often not understood. For migrating cells and motorized agents, Riedl et al. show that the synchronization of the intrinsic oscillator through nearest neighbour coupling establishes the necessary feedback leading to a uniform speed within the collective.

    • Michael Riedl
    • , Isabelle Mayer
    •  & Björn Hof

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microtubule inner proteins (MIPs) contribute to species-specific motility characteristics but are largely unstudied. Here, the authors combine functional, structural and proteomic analysis in T. brucei to advance fundamental understanding of MIP assembly and identify trypanosome-specific MIPs required for motility.

    • Michelle M. Shimogawa
    • , Angeline S. Wijono
    •  & Kent L. Hill

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The existence of multicellular systems relies on coordinated cell motion in three dimensions. Here, cell migration in rotating spherical tissues is shown to exhibit a collective mode with a single-wavelength velocity wave, which arises from the effect of curvature on the flocking behavior of cells on a spherical surface.

    • Tom Brandstätter
    • , David B. Brückner
    •  & Chase P. Broedersz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this work the authors report a quasi two-dimensional population of living cells that can spontaneously self-assemble into finite-sized domains, an analogue of the microphase separation known in inert matter.

    • A. Carrère
    • , J. d’Alessandro
    •  & J.-P. Rieu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Channelrhodopsin photoreceptors are responsible for phototaxis in C. reinhardtii. Here, authors introduce point mutations in the channel which modify photocycle kinetics and ion selectivity, resulting in a deeper understanding of phototaxis in low light conditions.

    • Olga Baidukova
    • , Johannes Oppermann
    •  & Peter Hegemann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The communication in active systems plays an important role in their self-organization, yet the detail is not fully understood. Here, Ziepke et al. show the formation of complex structures at multiple scales amongst interactive agents that locally process information transmitted by chemical signals.

    • Alexander Ziepke
    • , Ivan Maryshev
    •  & Erwin Frey

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Engineering peptide assembly that controls integrin ligand presentation on the molecular level possesses by far the highest ligand density, expanding the perspective of ligand-density-dependent modulation.

    • Xunwu Hu
    • , Sona Rani Roy
    •  & Ye Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tissue boundaries in our body separate organs and enable healing, but boundary mechanics are not well known. Here, the authors define mechanical rules for colliding cell monolayers and use these rules to make complex, predictable tessellations.

    • Matthew A. Heinrich
    • , Ricard Alert
    •  & Daniel J. Cohen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bacterial motility relies on the mechanics of the “hook” the 60 nm biopolymer at the base of rotating flagella. Here, authors observe the hook stiffening as it is twisted by the rotation of the flagellum, a mechanical feat evolved for its function.

    • Ashley L. Nord
    • , Anaïs Biquet-Bisquert
    •  & Francesco Pedaci

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cellular adhesions have the remarkable property that they adapt their stability to the applied mechanical load. Here, authors describe a generic physical mechanism that explains self-stabilization of idealized adhesion systems under shear.

    • Andrea Braeutigam
    • , Ahmet Nihat Simsek
    •  & Benedikt Sabass

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microswimmers can navigate porous environments, however the impact of their directed motility on their movement in fluid flow remains an open issue. The authors show that the motility of magnetotactic bacteria in flow through a porous constriction gives rise to nonlinear flow conductivity similar to electrical diodes.

    • Nicolas Waisbord
    • , Amin Dehkharghani
    •  & Jeffrey S. Guasto

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bacterial biofilms are aggregates of surface-associated cells embedded in an extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) matrix. Here, the authors describe a unique mode of collective movement by self-propelled, surface-associated spherical microcolonies with EPS cores in the gliding bacterium Flavobacterium johnsoniae.

    • Chao Li
    • , Amanda Hurley
    •  & David J. Beebe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Environmental and genetic risk factors affect the distal airway epithelium in idiopatic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) but the role of the epithelium in IPF remains unclear. Here the authors show that pathologic activation of the ERBB-YAP axis induces dynamic and structural dysfunction in the distal airway epithelium eliciting a pro-fibrotic phenotype in mesenchymal cells.

    • Ian T. Stancil
    • , Jacob E. Michalski
    •  & David A. Schwartz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cells can modify their environment by depositing biochemical signals or mechanically remodelling the extracellular matrix; the impact of such self-induced environmental perturbations on cell trajectories at various scales remains unexplored. Here authors show that motile cells leave long-lived physicochemical footprints along their way, which determine their future path.

    • Joseph d’Alessandro
    • , Alex Barbier--Chebbah
    •  & Benoît Ladoux

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The effect of fallopian tube’s curvature on sperm motion has not been studied in detail. Here, the authors use droplet microfluidics to create soft curved interfaces, revealing a dynamic switch in sperm motility from a progressive surface-aligned mode at low curvatures, to an aggressive surface-attacking mode at high curvatures.

    • Mohammad Reza Raveshi
    • , Melati S. Abdul Halim
    •  & Reza Nosrati

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sensory perception and metabolic homeostasis are known to deteriorate with ageing, while mechanisms underlying their deterioration remain poorly understood. Here, the authors demonstrate that decrease of intraflagellar transport in the cilia of sensory neurons impairs sensory perception and metabolism in ageing C. elegans.

    • Yincong Zhang
    • , Xiaona Zhang
    •  & Yidong Shen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bio-mimetic motion has been hard to achieve due to a lack of biocompatible conditions. Here, the authors report the creation of a liposome-stabilised aqueous PEG/dextran Pickering-like emulsion system with motion induced by the Marangoni effect and characterised by negative chemotaxis.

    • Shaobin Zhang
    • , Claudia Contini
    •  & Oscar Ces

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Actin polymerization provides force for vital processes of the eukaryotic cell, but our understanding of actin dynamics and energetics remains limited due to the lack of high-quality probes. Here authors identify a family of highly sensitive fluorescent nucleotide analogues which bind to actin and provide energy to power actin-based processes.

    • Jessica Colombo
    • , Adrien Antkowiak
    •  & Alphée Michelot

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cell extrusion regulates monolayer cell density and is critical in maintaining epithelia integrity, which has implications in homeostasis, development, and cancer progression. Here the authors describe how monolayer integrate mechanical signals from tissue mechanics, cell-cell adhesion, cell-substrate adhesion and cytoskeleton coordinate cell extrusion.

    • Anh Phuong Le
    • , Jean-François Rupprecht
    •  & Benoît Ladoux

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cryopreservation is standard protocol prior to using NK cells in immunotherapy. Here the authors show that cryopreservation substantially reduces the clinical utility of these cells owing to a defect in their motility, an effect that might account for failure to treat some cancers with NK cell immunotherapy.

    • Christoph Mark
    • , Tina Czerwinski
    •  & Caroline J. Voskens

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During repair, development, or cancer metastasis, epithelial cells can become migratory through partial or full epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). Here, the authors report that differentiated epithelial collectives may undergo cooperative and collective migration without evidence of partial EMT through an unjamming transition (UJT).

    • Jennifer A. Mitchel
    • , Amit Das
    •  & Jin-Ah Park

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Swimming bacteria perform collective motion at high cell density, yet it is unclear how this behaviour affects their ability to follow substance gradients in the environment. Here, Colin et al. address this question by studying motion of Escherichia coli in controlled chemical gradients.

    • Remy Colin
    • , Knut Drescher
    •  & Victor Sourjik

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microorganisms tend to live in heterogeneous environments. Here the authors investigate the influence of this heterogeneity on bacteria swimming near a surface in the presence of obstacles; these are found to enhance the cells’ propagation rather than hinder it for an optimal obstacle density.

    • Stanislaw Makarchuk
    • , Vasco C. Braz
    •  & Giorgio Volpe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It has been previously shown theoretically that the average path length of random walks inside a closed domain is invariant. Here the authors demonstrate that this invariance property can be used to predict the mean residence time of swimming bacteria exploring structured micro-environments.

    • Giacomo Frangipane
    • , Gaszton Vizsnyiczai
    •  & Roberto Di Leonardo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many bacteria swim with run-and-tumble motion in unconfined fluid. Here the authors report that confinement of these bacteria in a 3D porous medium changes this motion into hopping and trapping, in which the cells are intermittently and transiently trapped as they navigate the pore space.

    • Tapomoy Bhattacharjee
    •  & Sujit S. Datta

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A steep gradient of Cdc42 is at the front of migrating cells, whereas the active Rac1 gradient is graded. Here the authors show that Cdc42 gradients follow the distribution of GEFs and govern direction of migration, while Rac1 gradients require the activity of the GAP β2-chimaerin and control cell speed.

    • S. de Beco
    • , K. Vaidžiulytė
    •  & M. Coppey

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Geometrically confined suspensions of swimming bacteria can self-organize into an ordered state. Here, the authors use tiny pillars to trigger organization of bacterial motion into a stable lattice of vortices with a long-range antiferromagnetic order and control vortex direction through pillar chirality.

    • Daiki Nishiguchi
    • , Igor S Aranson
    •  & Andrey Sokolov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Systematic changes in stock market prices or in the migration behaviour of cancer cells may be hidden behind random fluctuations. Here, Mark et al. describe an empirical approach to identify when and how such real-world systems undergo systematic changes.

    • Christoph Mark
    • , Claus Metzner
    •  & Ben Fabry

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Marginal zone B (MZB) cells shuttle between the marginal zone and lymphoid follicle to capture and present peripheral blood antigens. Here the authors show that shear force, such as blood flow from the sinus around the follicle, is a directional cue that induces MZB migration on ICAM-1, and that S1P signaling inhibits this directional migration.

    • Kerry Tedford
    • , Michael Steiner
    •  & Klaus-Dieter Fischer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Collective epithelial behaviours are studied in vitro in the context of flat sheets but a system to mimic tubular systems is lacking. Here, the authors develop a method to study collective behaviour in lumenal structures and show that several features depend on the extent of tubular confinement and/or curvature.

    • Wang Xi
    • , Surabhi Sonam
    •  & Chwee Teck Lim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanism allowing sperm to steer is not fully understood. The authors find that superposition of two harmonic waves breaks the flagellar beat symmetry temporally rather than spatially, and that this mechanism is enhanced by the sexual hormone progesterone, which changes the motility pattern.

    • Guglielmo Saggiorato
    • , Luis Alvarez
    •  & Jens Elgeti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bacterial flagellar filaments are composed almost entirely of a single protein—flagellin—which can switch between different supercoiled states in a highly cooperative manner. Here the authors present near-atomic resolution cryo-EM structures of nine flagellar filaments, and begin to shed light on the molecular basis of filament switching.

    • Fengbin Wang
    • , Andrew M. Burrage
    •  & Edward H. Egelman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cell migration is sensitive to environmental stiffness, but how cells sense optimal stiffness is not known. Here the authors develop a model that predicts that the optimum can be shifted by altering the number of active molecular motors and clutches, and verify their model in two cell types.

    • Benjamin L. Bangasser
    • , Ghaidan A. Shamsan
    •  & David J. Odde

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A point mutation in the gap-junction protein connexin 30 stops early onset age-related hearing loss. Here, the authors show that gap junctions contribute to cochlear micromechanics and that cochlear amplification is likely controlled by extracellular potentials in vicinity of the cochlear sensory cells.

    • Victoria A. Lukashkina
    • , Snezana Levic
    •  & Ian J. Russell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A small molecule (autoinducer 2, or AI-2) regulates biofilm formation and virulence in several bacteria, but its role in Escherichia coli is unknown. Here, Laganenka et al. show that chemotaxis towards self-produced AI-2 mediates autoaggregation and promotes stress resistance and biofilm formation in E. coli.

    • Leanid Laganenka
    • , Remy Colin
    •  & Victor Sourjik

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It was recently shown that basal cells in pseudostratified epithelia extend a long cytoplasmic process across the tight junction barrier into the lumen. Here Roy & Kim et al. show that these projections, which they call axiopodia, extend and retract over time in a c-Src and MEK-ERK-dependent manner.

    • Jeremy Roy
    • , Bongki Kim
    •  & Sylvie Breton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Coordinated epithelial movement during embryogenesis drives complex tissue formation, but how this movement is coordinated to maintain epithelial integrity is not clear. Here the authors show that left-right asymmetry in cell intercalation drives clockwise rotation of epithelia inDrosophilagenital development.

    • Katsuhiko Sato
    • , Tetsuya Hiraiwa
    •  & Erina Kuranaga

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