title: FRET-based Molecular Tension Microscopy.
abstract: Cells generate and experience mechanical forces that may shape tissues and regulate signaling pathways in a variety of physiological or pathological situations. How forces propagate and transduce signals at the molecular level is poorly understood. The advent of FRET-based Molecular Tension Microscopy now allows to achieve mechanical force measurements at a molecular scale with molecular specificity in situ, and thereby better understand the mechanical architecture of cells and tissues, and mechanotransduction pathways. In this review, we will first expose the basic principles of FRET-based MTM and its various incarnations. We will describe different ways of measuring FRET, their advantages and drawbacks. Then, throughout the range of proteins of interest, cells and organisms to which it has been applied, we will review the tests developed to validate the approach, how molecular tension was related to cell functions, and conclude with possible developments and offshoots.
authors.affiliation: Institut Jacques Monod, Unité Mixe de Recherche 7592, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Université Paris-Diderot, Paris 75013, France.
authors.forename: Charlène
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gayrard
authors.affiliation: Institut Jacques Monod, Unité Mixe de Recherche 7592, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Université Paris-Diderot, Paris 75013, France. Electronic address: nicolas.borghi@ijm.fr.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Borghi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000502:physiology; D005454:Fluorescence Polarization; D031541:Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer; D006801:Humans; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force
chemical_list: D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules
keywords: FRET microscopy; Mechanotransduction; Morphogenesis; Signaling