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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/1999//589 $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 145, Number 3, , 1999 589-604

Regular Articles

Separation of Propulsive and Adhesive Traction Stresses in Locomoting Keratocytes



Tim Oliver*, Micah Dembo{ddagger}, and Ken Jacobson§

* Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0300; {ddagger} Biomedical Engineering Department, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215; and § Cell Biology and Anatomy Department and Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514

Strong, actomyosin-dependent, pinching tractions in steadily locomoting (gliding) fish keratocytes revealed by traction imaging present a paradox, since only forces perpendicular to the direction of locomotion are apparent, leaving the actual propulsive forces unresolved. When keratocytes become transiently "stuck" by their trailing edge and adopt a fibroblast-like morphology, the tractions opposing locomotion are concentrated into the tail, leaving the active pinching and propulsive tractions clearly visible under the cell body. Stuck keratocytes can develop ~1 mdyn (10,000 pN) total propulsive thrust, originating in the wings of the cell. The leading lamella develops no detectable propulsive traction, even when the cell pulls on its transient tail anchorage. The separation of propulsive and adhesive tractions in the stuck phenotype leads to a mechanically consistent hypothesis that resolves the traction paradox for gliding keratocytes: the propulsive tractions driving locomotion are normally canceled by adhesive tractions resisting locomotion, leaving only the pinching tractions as a resultant. The resolution of the traction pattern into its components specifies conditions to be met for models of cytoskeletal force production, such as the dynamic network contraction model (Svitkina, T.M., A.B. Verkhovsky, K.M. McQuade, and G.G. Borisy. 1997. J. Cell Biol. 139:397–415). The traction pattern associated with cells undergoing sharp turns differs markedly from the normal pinching traction pattern, and can be accounted for by postulating an asymmetry in contractile activity of the opposed lateral wings of the cell.

Key Words: cell locomotion • traction stresses • keratocytes • actomyosin

Abbreviations used in this paper: BDM, 2,3-butanedione 2-monoxime; DNC, dynamic network contraction.


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