Actomyosin contractility rotates the cell nucleus

Kumar, Abhishek and Maitra, Ananyo and Sumit, Madhuresh and Ramaswamy, Sriram and Shivashankar, G. V. (2014) Actomyosin contractility rotates the cell nucleus. In: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 4 .

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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.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Publisher:	NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
Additional Information:	Copyright for this article belongs to the NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP, ENGLAND
Department/Centre:	Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Physics
Date Deposited:	20 Feb 2014 11:21
Last Modified:	20 Feb 2014 11:21
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/48416

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