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Title: A Mechanogenetic Toolkit for Interrogating Cell Signaling in Space and Time

Journal Article · · Cell
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [3];  [6];  [4];  [6];  [3];  [5];  [7]
  1. Univ. of California, San Francisco, CA (United States). Dept. of Otolaryngology; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division
  2. Univ. of California, San Francisco, CA (United States). Dept. of Otolaryngology; Univ. of California, San Francisco, CA (United States). Dept. of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
  3. Inst. for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Yonsei Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)
  4. Univ. of California, San Francisco, CA (United States). Dept. of Otolaryngology
  5. Univ. of California, San Francisco, CA (United States). Dept. of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
  6. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division
  7. Univ. of California, San Francisco, CA (United States). Dept. of Otolaryngology; Inst. for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Yonsei Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

Tools capable of imaging and perturbing mechanical signaling pathways with fine spatiotemporal resolution have been elusive, despite their importance in diverse cellular processes. The challenge in creating a mechanogenetic toolkit (i.e., selective and quantitative activation of genetically encoded mechanoreceptors) stems from the fact that many mechanically activated processes are localized in space and time yet additionally require mechanical loading to become activated. To address this challenge, we synthesized magnetoplasmonic nanoparticles that can image, localize, and mechanically load targeted proteins with high spatiotemporal resolution. We demonstrate their utility by investigating the cell-surface activation of two mechanoreceptors: Notch and E-cadherin. By measuring cellular responses to a spectrum of spatial, chemical, temporal, and mechanical inputs at the single-molecule and single-cell levels, we reveal how spatial segregation and mechanical force cooperate to direct receptor activation dynamics. This generalizable technique can be utilized to control and understand diverse mechanosensitive processes in cell signaling.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1545132
Journal Information:
Cell, Vol. 165, Issue 6; ISSN 0092-8674
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 108 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Forced- and Self-Rotation of Magnetic Nanorods Assembly at the Cell Membrane: A Biomagnetic Torsion Pendulum journal June 2017
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Miniature magnetic force probes journal June 2016
Mechanisms of Notch signaling: a simple logic deployed in time and space journal February 2019
Quantifying forces in cell biology journal June 2017
Perspectives of RAS and RHEB GTPase Signaling Pathways in Regenerating Brain Neurons journal December 2018
Emerging Applications of Nanotechnology for Controlling Cell‐Surface Receptor Clustering journal January 2019
Emerging roles of mechanical forces in chromatin regulation journal June 2017
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The Molecular Mechanism of Notch Activation book January 2018
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Nanoparticle-based local translation reveals mRNA as a translation-coupled scaffold with anchoring function journal June 2019
Roles of the cytoskeleton, cell adhesion and rho signalling in mechanosensing and mechanotransduction journal January 2017
Intracellular targeted delivery of quantum dots with extraordinary performance enabled by a novel nanomaterial design journal January 2019
Atomic force microscopy-based mechanobiology journal November 2018
The Clathrin adaptor AP-1 and the Rab-stabilizing chaperone Stratum act in two parallel pathways to control the activation of the Notch pathway in Drosophila posted_content May 2019
Mechanogenetics for the remote and noninvasive control of cancer immunotherapy journal January 2018
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Probing nanomechanical responses of cell membranes journal February 2020
Magnetic control of cellular processes using biofunctional nanoparticles journal January 2017
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Figures / Tables (6)