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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 40: Cell Mechanics II / Cytoskeleton II
BP 40.1: Vortrag
Freitag, 13. März 2026, 10:00–10:15, BAR/0205
The keratin network adapts the nucleus to cellular strain — •Ruben Haag1, Ruth Meyer1, Sascha Lambert2, Hajaani Manoharan3, Ulrike Rölleke1, Jens Konrad3, Bernd Hoffman3, Rudolf Merkel3, Stefan Klumpp2, and Sarah Köster1 — 1Institute for X-Ray Physics, University of Göttingen, Germany — 2Institute for the Dynamics of Complex Systems, University of Göttingen, Germany — 3Institute of Biological Information Processing, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany
Intermediate filaments (IFs) comprise one of the cytoskeletal network types and are cell-type specific. In epithelial cells, the keratin IF network connects the desmosomes in the cell membrane with the perinuclear keratin cage, thus forming a mechanical link from the nucleus to the cell membrane. We now ask whether this link transmits mechanical signals from outside the cell to the nucleus. To answer this question, we stretch both epithelial wild type and keratin knockout cells uniaxially and equibiaxially. During stretching, we image cell nuclei and measure their individual deformation to study the influence of the keratin IF network on them. To understand how the keratin network transmits force to the nucleus, we image the keratin network during cell stretching and create a minimal model to mimic how the keratin network deforms the nucleus. Our results suggest that stretching the keratin network is a two-step process: individual keratin bundles are initially pulled straight and are then stretched. Possibly, by this two-step process, the keratin network adapts the nucleus to cellular strain.
Keywords: Keratin; Nucleus; Cell-stretching; Intermediate Filaments