Lenormand Guillaume, Fredberg Jeffrey J
Physiology Program, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Biorheology. 2006;43(1):1-30.
A trail of evidence has led to an unexpected intersection of topical issues in condensed matter physics and cytoskeletal biology. On the one hand, the glass transition and the jammed state are two outstanding unsolved problems; such systems are out-of-equilibrium, disordered, and their transitions between solid-like and liquid-like states are not understood. On the other hand, cellular systems are increasingly being considered as interconnected maps of protein interactions that are highly specific and tightly regulated but, even when such comprehensive maps become available, they may be insufficient to define biological function at the integrative level because they do not encompass principles that govern dynamics at intermediate (meso) scales of organization. It is interesting, therefore, that the cytoskeleton of the living cell shows physical properties and remodeling dynamics with all the same signatures as soft inert condensed systems, although with important differences as well. Data reviewed here suggest that trapping, intermittency, and approach to kinetic arrest represent mesoscale features of collective protein-protein interactions linking underlying molecular events to integrative cellular functions such as crawling, contraction and remodeling. Because these are crucial cell functions, this synthesis may offer new perspectives on a variety of disorders including infectious disease, cardiovascular disease, asthma and cancer.
一系列证据导致了凝聚态物理和细胞骨架生物学中的热点问题出现了意想不到的交叉。一方面，玻璃化转变和堵塞状态是两个尚未解决的突出问题；这类系统处于非平衡、无序状态，它们在类固态和类液态之间的转变尚不清楚。另一方面，细胞系统越来越被视为蛋白质相互作用的相互连接图谱，这些相互作用高度特异且受到严格调控，但是，即使获得了这样全面的图谱，它们可能仍不足以在整合层面定义生物学功能，因为它们没有涵盖在中间（介观）组织尺度上控制动力学的原理。因此，有趣的是，活细胞的细胞骨架表现出与软惰性凝聚系统相同特征的物理性质和重塑动力学，不过也存在重要差异。此处回顾的数据表明，捕获、间歇性以及接近动力学停滞代表了集体蛋白质 - 蛋白质相互作用的介观特征，这些相互作用将潜在的分子事件与诸如爬行、收缩和重塑等整合细胞功能联系起来。由于这些都是关键的细胞功能，这种综合可能为包括传染病、心血管疾病、哮喘和癌症在内的多种疾病提供新的视角。
