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Forces that Shape the Cell

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Quantitative Elements of General Biology

Abstract

Systems biomechanics of the cell is a new area of study that focuses on system-level mechanical phenomena in the cell, notably involving interaction of the cell boundary with the cytoskeleton that it confines. Mechanical effects are reviewed that are associated with the conformations adopted by constrained microtubule fibers, including interphase asters of microtubules, mitotic cytoskeletons consisting of two coupled asters, and the cytoskeleton in interacting cells. Mechanical origin of stability and instability of symmetry, asymmetry, and structural multistability is highlighted. Dynamical effects of emergent irreversibility, hysteresis, and multiperiodic dissipative oscillations are also analyzed, leading to a discussion of the central place of systems biomechanics of the cell in the organization of living matter.

This chapter is based closely on the author’s prior work, Systems Biomechanics of the Cell (Springer, 2013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Biophysics, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Ivan Maly

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  1. Ivan Maly
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Maly, I. (2021). Forces that Shape the Cell. In: Quantitative Elements of General Biology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79146-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79146-9_6

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