Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 37: Tissue Mechanics II

BP 37.12: Talk

Friday, March 13, 2026, 12:30–12:45, BAR/0106

Muscle growth by sarcomere divisions — Clement Rodier¹, Ian D. Estabrook^2,3, Frank Schnorrer¹, and •Benjamin M. Friedrich² — ¹IBDM, Marseilles, France — ²EXC Physics of Life, TU Dresden, Germany — ³EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany

The sarcomere is the elementary contractile unit of muscles. Sarcomeres are organized into highly regular periodic chains termed myofibrils, which span the millimeter-length of muscle cells. During development, new sarcomeres are added to mechanically tensed myofibrils as muscle cells increase in length. Yet, how muscles add new sarcomeres to facilitate muscle growth remained elusive. Using live imaging and high-throughput image analysis of the Drosophila flight muscle, we identified a new mechanism of tension-driven sarcomere addition where individual sarcomeres divide along the myofibril tension axis into daughter sarcomeres. Thereby, new sarcomeres can be inserted into contractile myofibrils without compromising their mechanical integrity. A similar mechanism may apply in vertebrate muscle development and regeneration.

[1] Rodier et al. Sci. Adv. 11(28), 2025

Keywords: sarcomere; cytoskeleton; cell mechanics; self-assembly; image analysis