Fig. 6: Zyxin overexpression alters traction stress and facilitates substrate rigidity sensing. | Communications Biology

Fig. 6: Zyxin overexpression alters traction stress and facilitates substrate rigidity sensing.

From: Zyxin regulates embryonic stem cell fate by modulating mechanical and biochemical signaling interface

Fig. 6

a D3 and b E14 control cells and zyxin overexpression cells seeded on 14 kPa substrates were subjected to traction stress analysis. Brightfield images, in-plane traction stress images (Txy), out-plane traction stress images (Tzz) were compared between control and zyxin overexpression. c, d Average (c) in-plane (Txy) and (d) out-plane (Tzz) traction stress magnitudes were plotted for D3 (N = 38,38) and E14 (N = 15,18). Two-tailed unpaired Student’s t-test was used to test the differences between the control and zyxin overexpression groups. e Traction stress maps for x-y direction (Txy) in increasing substrate rigidity of 6, 14, and 31 kPa were compared between control and zyxin overexpression. f Quantification analysis of average traction stress magnitudes in x-y direction (Txy) were compared between D3-control cells (D3 ctrl - Txy) (N = 27,29,32) and D3-zyxin overexpressing cells (D3 zyx O/E - Txy) (N = 33,34,31). Kruskal–Wallis test was used to test the differences among the three rigidities and Mann–Whitney U-test was used to test the differences between the control and zyxin overexpression groups at each rigidity. g Traction stress maps for z direction (Tzz) in increasing substrate rigidity of 6, 14, and 31 kPa were compared between control and zyxin overexpression. h Quantification analysis of average traction stress magnitudes in z direction (Tzz) were compared between D3-control cells (D3 ctrl - Tzz) (N = 27,29,32) and D3-zyxin overexpressing cells (D3 zyx O/E - Tzz) (N = 33,34,31). Kruskal–Wallis test was used to test the differences among the three rigidities and Mann–Whitney U-test was used to test the differences between the control and zyxin overexpression groups at each rigidity. In the box and whisker plots, the center line is the median, the box-bounds are the 25th and 75th percentiles, and the whiskers are the 0.05 and 0.95 percentiles. *P ≤ 0.05; **P ≤ 0.01; ****P ≤ 0.0001; ns, not significant. Scale bar: 30 μm.

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