Actomyosin Contractility Rotates the Cell Nucleus

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2014 Jan 22

PMID 24445418

Citations 21

Authors

Abhishek Kumar

Ananyo Maitra

Madhuresh Sumit

Sriram Ramaswamy

G V Shivashankar

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The cell nucleus functions amidst active cytoskeletal filaments, but its response to their contractile stresses is largely unexplored. We study the dynamics of the nuclei of single fibroblasts, with cell migration suppressed by plating onto micro-fabricated patterns. We find the nucleus undergoes noisy but coherent rotational motion. We account for this observation through a hydrodynamic approach, treating the nucleus as a highly viscous inclusion residing in a less viscous fluid of orientable filaments endowed with active stresses. Lowering actin contractility selectively by introducing blebbistatin at low concentrations drastically reduced the speed and coherence of the angular motion of the nucleus. Time-lapse imaging of actin revealed a correlated hydrodynamic flow around the nucleus, with profile and magnitude consistent with the results of our theoretical approach. Coherent intracellular flows and consequent nuclear rotation thus appear to be an intrinsic property of cells.

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