Mechanisms Of Cell Motility

"Yet another cell and molecular biology book? At the very least, you would think that if I was going to write a textbook, I should write one in an area that really needs one instead of a subject that already has multiple excellent and definitive books. So, why write this book, then? First, it's a course that I have enjoyed teaching for many years, so I am very familiar with what a student really needs to take away from this class within the time constraints of a semester. Second, because it is a course that many students take, there is a greater opportunity to make an impact on more students' pocketbooks than if I were to start off writing a book for a highly specialized upper- level course. And finally, it was fun to research and write, and can be revised easily for inclusion as part of our next textbook, High School Biology."--Open Textbook Library.

This book surveys the most recent advances in physics-inspired cell movement models. This synergetic, cross-disciplinary effort to increase the fidelity of computational algorithms will lead to a better understanding of the complex biomechanics of cell movement, and stimulate progress in research on related active matter systems, from suspensions of bacteria and synthetic swimmers to cell tissues and cytoskeleton.Cell motility and collective motion are among the most important themes in biology and statistical physics of out-of-equilibrium systems, and crucial for morphogenesis, wound healing, and immune response in eukaryotic organisms. It is also relevant for the development of effective treatment strategies for diseases such as cancer, and for the design of bioactive surfaces for cell sorting and manipulation. Substrate-based cell motility is, however, a very complex process as regulatory pathways and physical force generation mechanisms are intertwined. To understand the interplay between adhesion, force generation and motility, an abundance of computational models have been proposed in recent years, from finite element to immerse interface methods and phase field approaches.This book is primarily written for physicists, mathematical biologists and biomedical engineers working in this rapidly expanding field, and can serve as supplementary reading for advanced graduate courses in biophysics and mathematical biology. The e-book incorporates experimental and computer animations illustrating various aspects of cell movement./div

Cell migration is a highly complex process which involves several compartments of the cell, including surface receptors, signalling elements and the cytoskeleton. It plays an essential role in embryogenesis, wound healing and inflammatory responses, and a dysregulation of cell movement can cause pathological states such as developmental defects, chronic inflammation, cancer invasion and metastasis. Covering extracellular regulatory signals and intracellular signal transduction pathways as well as the molecular mechanisms of migration in stem cells, leukocytes and tumor cells in the adult human organism, this book summarizes the current state of knowledge about cell migration. In the first part, the major aspects of different migratory cells in health and disease are covered, with special emphasis on T lymphocytes. The second part provides a comprehensive overview of the principal molecular mechanisms of migration such as adhesion receptors, cytoskeletal rearrangements and locomotor force generation, which, together, can be referred to as a cell's 'migrosome'.With contributions by eminent international scientists from different disciplines this book will serve as a valuable resource not only for researchers in cell biology, immunology and oncology, but also for clinicians who wish to learn more about the role of migratory processes in health and disease.

By now it is abundantly clear that the cells of our bodies have the ability to move because of their actin cytoskeleton. From the earliest cell migrations in the embryo that serve to form the primordial tissue layers to the outgrowth of neurons, the contractions of our heart and skeletal muscles, and the metastasis of cancer cells, it is the regulated action of the actin cytoskeleton that propels our various motions. In this chapter we will examine the biochemical and cell biological mechanisms that control actin-based cell motility. We will see that cell migration along a substratum occurs in three fundamental phases that are exquisitely orchestrated in sequence. Cell migration occurs by an initial extension of the front edge of the cell, followed closely by contraction of the cell's rear end to push cytoplasm into the newly formed extension. As the cell's new leading edge extends, attachment sites are assembled on the cell floor, and extend through the plasma membrane to couple the migrating cell to the underlying surface. How the cell knows where to go, when to detach and reattach during the migration, and how to keep each process under strict control is a story well worth hearing, because it is motility and adhesion that make a multicellular life such as ours possible. Table of Contents: The Cytoskeleton / How Cells Move / Regulation of the Actin Cytoskeleton / The Role of Myosin in Cell Motility / The Role of Cell Adhesion in Cell Motility / Recommended Readings

This volume intends to provide a comprehensive overview on the mecha nisms of muscle contraction and non-muscle cell motility at the molecu lar and cellular level, not only for investigators in these fields but also for general readers interested in these topics. A most attractive feature of various living organisms in the animal and plant kingdoms is their ability to move. In spite of a great diversity in the structure and function of various motile systems, it has frequently been assumed since the nineteenth century that all kinds of "motility" are essentially the same. Based on this assumption, some investigators in the nineteenth century thought that the mechanisms of motility could better be studied on primitive non-muscle motile systems such as amoeboid movement, rath er than on highly specialized muscle cells. Contrary to their expectation, however, the basic mechanisms of motility have been revealed solely by investigations on vertebrate skeletal muscles, since a monumental discovery of Szent-Gyorgyi and his coworkers in the early 1940s that muscle contraction results from the interaction between two different contractile proteins, actin and myosin, coupled with ATP hydrolysis.