title: Persistence-Driven Durotaxis: Generic, Directed Motility in Rigidity Gradients.
abstract: Cells move differently on substrates with different rigidities: the persistence time of their motion is higher on stiffer substrates. We show that this behavior-in and of itself-results in a net flux of cells directed up a soft-to-stiff gradient. Using simple random walk models with varying persistence and stochastic simulations, we characterize the propensity to move in terms of the durotactic index also measured in experiments. A one-dimensional model captures the essential features and highlights the competition between diffusive spreading and linear, wavelike propagation. Persistence-driven durokinesis is generic and may be of use in the design of instructive environments for cells and other motile, mechanosensitive objects.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell(I2BC), Institut de Biologie et de Technologies de Saclay(iBiTec-S), CEA, CNRS, Universite Paris Sud, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France.|Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, P. O. Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Elizaveta A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Novikova
authors.affiliation: CNRS UMR144, Institut Curie, 12 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raab
authors.affiliation: Molecular & Cell Biophysics and Graduate Group in Physics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Dennis E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Discher
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, P. O. Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.|Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, P. O. Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Cornelis
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Storm