Intracellular dry mass density increases under growth-induced pressure

List of Authors

  1. Hyojun Kim
    ,  
  2. Baptiste Alric
    ,  
  3. Nolan Chan
    ,  
  4. Julien Roul
    ,  
  5. Morgan Delarue
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Abstract

Cells that proliferate in confined environments develop mechanical compressive stress, referred to as growth-induced pressure, which inhibits growth and division across various organisms. Recent studies have shown that in these confined spaces, the diffusivity of intracellular nanoparticles decreases. However, the physical mechanisms behind this reduction remain unclear. In this study, we use quantitative phase imaging to measure the refractive index and dry mass density of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells proliferating under confinement in a microfluidic bioreactor. Our results indicate that the observed decrease in diffusivity could be attributed to the intracellular accumulation of macromolecules. Furthermore, the linear scaling between cell content and growth-induced pressure suggests that the concentrations of macromolecules and osmolytes are maintained proportionally under such pressure in S. cerevisiae.

Plain Language Summary

Cell proliferation in confined environments leads to the buildup of mechanical pressure. Mechanical pressure has been associated with the decreased motion of intracellular nanoparticles, but the physical basis for this slowdown has not been revealed. In this study, we measure the change in dry mass density of budding yeast growing in a confining microfluidic chamber using quantitative phase imaging. The dry mass density of cells increases linearly with pressure, which can be explained by continued mass accumulation in constrained cell volume. Our results suggest that the accumulation of mass beyond cellular homeostasis may be the physical driver of the restricted growth of cells in a confined space.

Corresponding author
Morgan Delarue
Grant information

Technological realizations were partly supported by the French RENATECH network. This work is partly funded by the European Union (ERC, UnderPressure, grant agreement number 101039998). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Copyright
© 2024 Hyojun Kim (Co-Author); Baptiste Alric (Co-Author); Nolan Chan (Co-Author); Julien Roul (Co-Author); Morgan Delarue (Corresponding Author, Co-Author) Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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This new version mainly contains language edits and some rephrasing of the sentences to help readability, as suggested by our two reviewers. The discussion has been complemented with one part on the importance of our findings for the regulation of intracellular density, and another discussing the discrepancy in the evaluation of the nominal osmotic pressure. Finally, Figure 2a has been annotated to help the reader understand the use of our microfluidic device.

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Authors & roles

Hyojun Kim

LAAS-CNRS, University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France

Roles
Co-Author, Conceptualization, Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing

Baptiste Alric

Institute of Industrial Science, Tokyo University, Tokyo, Japan

Roles
Co-Author, Data Curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – Review & Editing

Nolan Chan

Phasics, Bâtiment Mercury I, Espace Technologique, Route de l’Orme des Merisiers, St. Aubin, France

Roles
Co-Author, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Validation, Writing – Review & Editing

Julien Roul

LAAS-CNRS, University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France

Roles
Co-Author, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Writing – Review & Editing

Morgan Delarue

LAAS-CNRS, University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France

Roles
Corresponding Author, Co-Author, Conceptualization, Data Curation, Funding Acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing

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