The primary cilium is a self-adaptable, integrating nexus for mechanical stimuli and cellular signaling

Mechanosensation is crucial for cells to sense and respond to mechanical signals within their local environment. While adaptation allows a sensor to be conditioned by stimuli within the environment and enables its operation in a wide range of stimuli intensities, the mechanisms behind adaptation rem...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: An M. Nguyen, Y.-N. Young, Christopher R. Jacobs
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The Company of Biologists 2015-12-01
Series:Biology Open
Subjects:
Online Access:http://bio.biologists.org/content/4/12/1733
_version_ 1830135215461236736
author An M. Nguyen
Y.-N. Young
Christopher R. Jacobs
author_facet An M. Nguyen
Y.-N. Young
Christopher R. Jacobs
author_sort An M. Nguyen
collection DOAJ
description Mechanosensation is crucial for cells to sense and respond to mechanical signals within their local environment. While adaptation allows a sensor to be conditioned by stimuli within the environment and enables its operation in a wide range of stimuli intensities, the mechanisms behind adaptation remain controversial in even the most extensively studied mechanosensor, bacterial mechanosensitive channels. Primary cilia are ubiquitous sensory organelles. They have emerged as mechanosensors across diverse tissues, including kidney, liver and the embryonic node, and deflect with mechanical stimuli. Here, we show that both mechanical and chemical stimuli can alter cilium stiffness. We found that exposure to flow stiffens the cilium, which deflects less in response to subsequent exposures to flow. We also found that through a process involving acetylation, the cell can biochemically regulate cilium stiffness. Finally, we show that this altered stiffness directly affects the responsiveness of the cell to mechanical signals. These results demonstrate a potential mechanism through which the cell can regulate its mechanosensing apparatus.
first_indexed 2024-12-17T07:27:49Z
format Article
id doaj.art-937f264c029e4bc7b17c8a614be9c256
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2046-6390
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-17T07:27:49Z
publishDate 2015-12-01
publisher The Company of Biologists
record_format Article
series Biology Open
spelling doaj.art-937f264c029e4bc7b17c8a614be9c2562022-12-21T21:58:35ZengThe Company of BiologistsBiology Open2046-63902015-12-014121733173810.1242/bio.014787014787The primary cilium is a self-adaptable, integrating nexus for mechanical stimuli and cellular signalingAn M. Nguyen0Y.-N. Young1Christopher R. Jacobs2 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA Department of Mathematical Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, 07102 USA Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA Mechanosensation is crucial for cells to sense and respond to mechanical signals within their local environment. While adaptation allows a sensor to be conditioned by stimuli within the environment and enables its operation in a wide range of stimuli intensities, the mechanisms behind adaptation remain controversial in even the most extensively studied mechanosensor, bacterial mechanosensitive channels. Primary cilia are ubiquitous sensory organelles. They have emerged as mechanosensors across diverse tissues, including kidney, liver and the embryonic node, and deflect with mechanical stimuli. Here, we show that both mechanical and chemical stimuli can alter cilium stiffness. We found that exposure to flow stiffens the cilium, which deflects less in response to subsequent exposures to flow. We also found that through a process involving acetylation, the cell can biochemically regulate cilium stiffness. Finally, we show that this altered stiffness directly affects the responsiveness of the cell to mechanical signals. These results demonstrate a potential mechanism through which the cell can regulate its mechanosensing apparatus.http://bio.biologists.org/content/4/12/1733AcetylationAdaptationMechanosensingPrimary cilia
spellingShingle An M. Nguyen
Y.-N. Young
Christopher R. Jacobs
The primary cilium is a self-adaptable, integrating nexus for mechanical stimuli and cellular signaling
Biology Open
Acetylation
Adaptation
Mechanosensing
Primary cilia
title The primary cilium is a self-adaptable, integrating nexus for mechanical stimuli and cellular signaling
title_full The primary cilium is a self-adaptable, integrating nexus for mechanical stimuli and cellular signaling
title_fullStr The primary cilium is a self-adaptable, integrating nexus for mechanical stimuli and cellular signaling
title_full_unstemmed The primary cilium is a self-adaptable, integrating nexus for mechanical stimuli and cellular signaling
title_short The primary cilium is a self-adaptable, integrating nexus for mechanical stimuli and cellular signaling
title_sort primary cilium is a self adaptable integrating nexus for mechanical stimuli and cellular signaling
topic Acetylation
Adaptation
Mechanosensing
Primary cilia
url http://bio.biologists.org/content/4/12/1733
work_keys_str_mv AT anmnguyen theprimaryciliumisaselfadaptableintegratingnexusformechanicalstimuliandcellularsignaling
AT ynyoung theprimaryciliumisaselfadaptableintegratingnexusformechanicalstimuliandcellularsignaling
AT christopherrjacobs theprimaryciliumisaselfadaptableintegratingnexusformechanicalstimuliandcellularsignaling
AT anmnguyen primaryciliumisaselfadaptableintegratingnexusformechanicalstimuliandcellularsignaling
AT ynyoung primaryciliumisaselfadaptableintegratingnexusformechanicalstimuliandcellularsignaling
AT christopherrjacobs primaryciliumisaselfadaptableintegratingnexusformechanicalstimuliandcellularsignaling