Mechanical and structural tricks worth mimicking in extracellular matrix proteins

活细胞通过物理和化学信号感知并响应其微环境。机械相互作用被认为控制许多细胞功能，例如分裂、迁移和分化。在体内，这些相互作用是由相邻的细胞和周围的细胞外基质（ECM）纤维状网络。形成这种超分子ECM结构的单个蛋白质的行为已经被广泛研究，但令人惊讶的是，单个纤维的结构和机械性能-在细胞的长度尺度上-以及ECM中存在的不同蛋白质所起的可能的协同作用仍然难以捉摸。阐明控制ECM蛋白功能及其与活细胞相互作用的物理过程（称为机械生物学）是一个肥沃的研究领域，因为它代表了一种控制活细胞功能的新策略，可以找到许多技术应用。

Living cells sense and respond to their microenvironment through physical and chemical signals. Mechanical interactions are believed to control a number of cell functions such as division, migration and differentiation. In vivo, these interactions are determined both by the adjacent cells and by the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM) fibrillar network. The behavior of the single proteins forming such supermolecular ECM structures has been studied extensively, but surprisingly the structural and mechanical properties of individual fibers—on the length scale of cells—together with the likely synergetic roles played by the different proteins present in the ECM have remained elusive. Elucidating the physical processes that govern the function of ECM proteins and their interactions with living cells (called mechanobiology) is a fertile field of research, as it represents a novel strategy for controlling living cell functions that can find numerous technological applications.