title: Cortical Flow-Driven Shapes of Nonadherent Cells.
abstract: Nonadherent polarized cells have been observed to have a pearlike, elongated shape. Using a minimal model that describes the cell cortex as a thin layer of contractile active gel, we show that the anisotropy of active stresses, controlled by cortical viscosity and filament ordering, can account for this morphology. The predicted shapes can be determined from the flow pattern only; they prove to be independent of the mechanism at the origin of the cortical flow, and are only weakly sensitive to the cytoplasmic rheology. In the case of actin flows resulting from a contractile instability, we propose a phase diagram of three-dimensional cell shapes that encompasses nonpolarized spherical, elongated, as well as oblate shapes, all of which have been observed in experiment.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes, CNRS/Université Paris-Diderot, UMR 7057, 75205 Paris Cedex 13, France.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Callan-Jones
authors.affiliation: Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ruprecht
authors.affiliation: Division of Biomedical Physics, Innsbruck Medical University, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wieser
authors.affiliation: Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria.
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Heisenberg
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Jean Perrin, UMR 8237 CNRS/UPMC, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France.|Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée, CNRS UMR 7600, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Voituriez
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000502:physiology; D048430:Cell Shape / Q000502:physiology*; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D015027:Zebrafish