Researchers Identify Fundamental Properties of Cells That Affect How Tissue Structures Form

Researchers have found that changing the mechanical properties of individual cells disrupts their ability to remain stable, profoundly affecting their health and the health of the tissue that comprises them.

University of Florida researchers, Qiao Zhang, Ph.D., Tanmay P. Lele, Ph.D., Richard B. Dickinson, Ph.D., Christopher S. O’Bryan, Ph.D., and Thomas E. Angelini, Ph.D., have collaborated with Virginia Commonwealth University researchers to identify a fundamental factor in maintaining a stable multicellular structure: the LINC complex.

The LINC complex—a group of proteins known as the nuclear linker of nucleoskeleton to cytoskeleton—anchors the nucleus to the cell. The study, using 3-D culture models of cell clusters known as acini, suggests that mechanically disrupting the LINC complex destabilizes the clusters.

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