Eukaryotic cells migrate by coupling the intracellular force of the actin cytoskeleton to the environment. While force coupling is usually mediated by transmembrane adhesion receptors, especially those of the integrin family, amoeboid cells such as leukocytes can migrate extremely fast despite very low adhesive forces1. Here we show that leukocytes cannot only migrate under low adhesion but can also transmit forces in the complete absence of transmembrane force coupling. When confined within three-dimensional environments, they use the topographical features of the substrate to propel themselves. Here the retrograde flow of the actin cytoskeleton follows the texture of the substrate, creating retrograde shear forces that are sufficient to drive the cell body forwards. Notably, adhesion-dependent and adhesion-independent migration are not mutually exclusive, but rather are variants of the same principle of coupling retrograde actin flow to the environment and thus can potentially operate interchangeably and simultaneously. As adhesion-free migration is independent of the chemical composition of the environment, it renders cells completely autonomous in their locomotive behaviour.

BIOCEV 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University Vestec Czech Republic

Institut Curie PSL Research University CNRS UMR 144 Paris France

Institut Pierre Gilles de Gennes PSL Research University Paris France

Institute of Science and Technology Austria Klosterneuburg Austria

Institute of Scientific Instruments of the Czech Academy of Sciences Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Translational Medicine Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology University of Liverpool Liverpool UK

Laboratoire de Physique Theorique de la Matière Condensée et Laboratoire Jean Perrin CNRS Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris France

Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes UMR 7057 CNRS Université Paris Diderot Paris France

Fac Rev. 2022 Jul 21;11:18. doi: 10.12703/r-01-0000013. PubMed

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WASp triggers mechanosensitive actin patches to facilitate immune cell migration in dense tissues