Cross Purposes

Cells stretch out into their surroundings – relying on tiny 'bone'-like filaments of myosin to push and pull their way along. Here four human cells (with their nuclei highlighted in blue) are given a workout – stretching their cytoskeletons (green) out on cross-shaped platforms (red) to see how myosin rises to the challenge. While a normal cell (top left) reaches out using three different forms myosin working together, the other cells have been genetically edited to remove one of the trio. The arcs in the cells’ cytoskeletons look similar by eye, but researchers zooming in find differences in the shapes of depleted cells. They suggest the three forms of myosin must cooperate to generate and balance tension and elasticity so the cells can grow and move. The next step is to investigate how they cope in the changing environment of living tissues, such as migrating cancer cells.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image adapted from work by Kai Weißenbruch and Justin Grewe, and colleagues
• Zoological Institute, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, August 2021