Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 27: Cell Mechanics I

BP 27.9: Talk

Thursday, March 12, 2026, 12:00–12:15, BAR/0205

Probing the influence of mechano-chemical cues on the size of nuclei — •Pooja Yadav, Florian Rehfeldt, and Matthias Weiss — University of Bayreuth, Experimental Physics I,95447,Bayreuth

The size of nuclei in eukaryotes is frequently observed to scale with the size of the cell that harbours them. Yet, our understanding of how cells can measure and regulate nuclear size is still fragmentary. A recently developed model suggests nuclear size to be determined by a dynamically maintained but limited amount of membrane material that needs to be distributed between organelles and the plasma membrane. Given that membrane homeostasis and cell morphology can be altered biochemically and mechanically, we have used drug treatments and polyacrylamide (PA) hydrogels of varying stiffness as a substrate for cells. As a result, we have found that softening the substrate alters the shape and size of cells and nuclei, but maintains the ratio of their projected areas. Similarly, affecting the actomyosin cortex had little effect on this ratio. However, when enforcing changes in membrane homeostasis by pharmaceuticals, the ratio of cellular and nuclear cross-sectional areas was markedly altered. Altogether, our data suggest that dynamically maintaining and limiting membrane material is a core mechanism of how cells determine the size of their nuclei.

Keywords: Cell Morphology; Nuclear Size; Mechanosensing; Membrane Homeostasis; Polyacrylamide Hydrogels