Hunting for clues to explain cellular diversity with mechanics

Each cell in the human body shares the same DNA, yet our many types of cells look incredibly different. This is the foundation of the genotype-to-phenotype problem, the question of how cells differentiate during development. Much of this differentiation is caused by the environment, and much of the environment is due to mechanical stresses and surface forces.

Asp et al. covered recent advances in mechanobiology, describing techniques to explore the mechanical environment and measure its effects on bacteria.

Historically, most mechanobiological experiments were conducted on animal cells, as they are large, easy to work with, and directly relate to human cells. However, bacteria have been shown to exhibit many of the same mechanical responses and are easier to grow. Now, new technologies have made studying bacterial responses more feasible than ever.

“Advances in imaging and genomics have really helped propel the field of bacterial mechanobiology,” said author Alison Patteson. “Combined with other biophysical techniques, such as methods to culture cells on soft hydrogels with tunable mechanical and chemical properties, we can explore the basic building blocks of bacteria force-generation and surface sensing and gain a deeper understanding of the principles that govern bacterial behavior.”

The authors hope their discussion fuels further exploration and collaboration between scientists from many different fields.

“One of the biggest challenges is that tackling these problems requires microbiology, surface chemistry, mechanics, genetics, and biophysics,” said Patteson. “Interdisciplinary scientists and multidisciplinary teams will be essential to identifying the fundamental pathways by which bacteria sense and respond to different environments.”

Source: “Mechanobiology as a tool for addressing the genotype-to-phenotype problem in microbiology,” by Merrill E Asp, Minh-Tri Ho Thanh, Subarna Dutta, Jessica A. Comstock, Roy D. Welch, and Alison E. Patteson, Biophysics Reviews (2023). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0142121 .