Fig. 4: Extended cell–cell contact increases agglutination forces.
From: Single-cell fluidic force microscopy reveals stress-dependent molecular interactions in yeast mating
Maximum adhesion force histograms a before and b after a prolonged contact of 30 min between cells, obtained by recording force–distance curves in PBS between a representative MATa–MATα cell pair pretreated with pheromones, at an applied force of 1 nN, with a probing time of 1 s and a retraction velocity of 1000 nm s−1. Insets show the corresponding distribution of rupture lengths. Percentage on the top left corner stands for the non-adhesive events. c Box plots of the adhesion probability between MATa and MATα cells before and after 30 min contact (N = 10 independent cell pairs). d Box plots of the adhesion forces reached at diverse quartiles (Q1: 25%, median: 50% and Q3: 75% of the adhesive population) before and after 30 min contact (N = 8 independent cell pairs), suggesting a slight shift toward higher force populations. Stars are the mean values, lines the medians, boxes the 25–75% quartiles, and whiskers the SD from N = 8 independent cell pairs. Student’s t test: **p ≤ 0.01.
