Mechanical Mechanisms of Cell Migration Through Plasma Membrane Dynamics

Cell migration is orchestrated by dynamic remodelling of the plasma membrane and its underlying cytoskeleton to generate and transmit mechanical forces. Migrating cells adopt diverse protrusive structures—lamellipodia, filopodia and blebs—each driven by distinct force-generation modes. Lamellipodia extend via actin polymerisation at the leading edge, whereas bleb-based migration relies on cortical contractility and hydrostatic pressure to detach the membrane from the actomyosin cortex. Membrane-to-cortex attachment and cortical tension regulate protrusion size and persistence, enabling cells to navigate heterogeneous environments. Mechanotransduction through stretch-activated channels and feedback between cortical flows and contractility confers plasticity, permitting rapid transitions between mesenchymal and amoeboid modes. Understanding these mechanical mechanisms is crucial for insights into development, immune function and cancer metastasis.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent work has employed dynamic spherical harmonics to characterise three-dimensional membrane deformations during cell migration. By capturing temporal changes in membrane curvature and encoding them into spectral coefficients, researchers have shown that integrating dynamic descriptors with machine-learning classifiers can distinguish migratory phenotypes more accurately than static shape analyses. This framework quantifies how fluctuations in membrane undulations correlate with underlying mechanical drivers—such as actomyosin contractility and cortical tension—and offers a robust tool for probing the mechanical basis of diverse migration modes in physiological and pathological contexts.

Mechanical Mechanisms of Cell Migration Through Plasma Membrane Dynamics publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in mechanical mechanisms of cell migration through plasma membrane dynamics across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Bleb: A rounded membrane protrusion formed by local detachment of the plasma membrane from the actomyosin cortex, driven by intracellular pressure.

Actomyosin cortex: A contractile network of actin filaments and myosin motors beneath the plasma membrane, generating forces for cell shape changes.

Cortical tension: The mechanical force produced by the actomyosin cortex that influences membrane curvature and protrusion dynamics.

Mechanosensitive channel: A membrane protein that opens in response to mechanical forces, allowing ion flux to transduce physical stimuli into biochemical signals.

Membrane-to-cortex attachment (MCA): The linkage between the plasma membrane and the underlying actomyosin cortex, regulating force transmission and protrusion formation.

References

1. Blebology: principles of bleb-based migration. Trends in Cell Biology (2024).
2. Cortical Contractility Triggers a Stochastic Switch to Fast Amoeboid Cell Motility. Cell (2015).
3. Control of Directed Cell Migration In Vivo by Membrane-to-Cortex Attachment. PLOS Biology (2010).
4. Pressure sensing through Piezo channels controls whether cells migrate with blebs or pseudopods. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2020).
5. Dynamic spherical harmonics approach for shape classification of migrating cells. Scientific Reports (2020).