Vimentin is a key regulator of cell mechanosensing through opposite actions on actomyosin and microtubule networks

• Published in: Communications biology Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 658 - 13
• Main Authors: Alisafaei, Farid, Mandal, Kalpana, Saldanha, Renita, Swoger, Maxx, Yang, Haiqian, Shi, Xuechen, Guo, Ming, Hehnly, Heidi, Castañeda, Carlos A., Janmey, Paul A., Patteson, Alison E., Shenoy, Vivek B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 29.05.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 14/1; 14/19; 14/63; 631/57; 631/57/2266; Actin; Actomyosin; Actomyosin - metabolism; Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biopolymers; Compression; Contractility; Cytoskeleton; Extracellular matrix; Extracellular Matrix - metabolism; Filaments; Humans; Intermediate filaments; Life Sciences; Mechanotransduction, Cellular; Microenvironments; Microtubules; Microtubules - metabolism; Vimentin; Vimentin - metabolism; Wound healing
• ISSN: 2399-3642; 2399-3642
• DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06366-4

The cytoskeleton is a complex network of interconnected biopolymers consisting of actin filaments, microtubules, and intermediate filaments. These biopolymers work in concert to transmit cell-generated forces to the extracellular matrix required for cell motility, wound healing, and tissue maintenance. While we know cell-generated forces are driven by actomyosin contractility and balanced by microtubule network resistance, the effect of intermediate filaments on cellular forces is unclear. Using a combination of theoretical modeling and experiments, we show that vimentin intermediate filaments tune cell stress by assisting in both actomyosin-based force transmission and reinforcement of microtubule networks under compression. We show that the competition between these two opposing effects of vimentin is regulated by the microenvironment stiffness. These results reconcile seemingly contradictory results in the literature and provide a unified description of vimentin’s effects on the transmission of cell contractile forces to the extracellular matrix. Vimentin tunes cell stress by assisting in both actomyosin force transmission and reinforcement of microtubule networks under compression. The competition between these two opposing effects of vimentin is regulated by the microenvironment stiffness.