Cells are constantly pushing, pulling, and responding to the physical forces around them—and those forces play a critical role in shaping cell behavior, organization, and function. Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC), ASCB’s flagship journal, brings these dynamics into focus through its Forces on and within Cells collection.
Spanning molecular mechanics, cytoskeletal dynamics, and force-driven signaling, this body of work highlights how physical forces intersect with biology to influence everything from cell shape to collective behavior. The articles featured below represent recent advances that are helping define this rapidly evolving area of cell biology.
Recent highlights from the Forces on and within Cells collection include:
- Lipid Droplets are rigid and physically suppress phagocytosis, unless cell compression or stretching activates actomyosin
- Noncanonical regulation of the plasma membrane copper transporter CTR1 through modulation of membrane mechanical properties
- Actin and vimentin jointly control cell viscoelasticity and compression stiffening
- Nonmuscle myosin IIA (NMIIA) regulates anisotropic cell tension to maintain the hexagonal packing of mouse lens meridional row cells
- PRC1 resists microtubule sliding in two distinct resistive modes due to variations in the separation between overlapping microtubules
- Lamin B1 and LAP2β resist cytoskeletal force to maintain lamin A/C meshwork organization and preserve nuclear integrity
- Nonmuscle myosin 2 without an assembly competence domain can incorporate into established filaments in cells
- Force-insensitive myosin-I enhances endocytosis robustness through actin network–scale collective ratcheting
The Forces On and Within Cells special issue is led by Valerie Marie Weaver (University of California, San Francisco), Dennis Discher (University of Pennsylvania), Alex Dunn (Standford University), and Alpha Yap (University of Queensland). Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis, providing authors with the opportunity to share their latest advances as soon as they’re ready.
Explore the full collection and learn how you can contribute your own work to this exciting and rapidly evolving field.
About the Author:
This post was collaboratively written by several ASCB staff members.
