Directed cell motion is essential in physiological and pathological processes such as morphogenesis, wound healing, and cancer spreading. Chemotaxis has often been proposed as the driving mechanism, even though evidence of long-range gradients is often lacking in vivo. By patterning adhesive regions in space, we control cell shape and the potential to move along one direction in another migration mode coined ratchetaxis. We report that focal contact distributions collectively dictate cell directionality, and bias is non-linearly increased by gap distance between adhesive regions. Focal contact dynamics on micro-patterns allow to integrate these phenomena in a model where each focal contact is translated into a force with known amplitude and direction, leading to quantitative predictions for cell motion in new conditions with their successful experimental tests. Altogether, our study shows how local and minute timescale dynamics of focal adhesions and their distribution lead to long-term cellular motion with simple geometric rules.

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定向细胞运动在生理和病理过程中至关重要，例如形态发生、伤口愈合和癌症扩散。趋化性经常被认为是驱动机制，尽管在体内通常缺乏长程梯度的证据. 通过在空间中对粘合区域进行图案化，我们控制了细胞形状和以另一种形成棘轮性的迁移模式沿一个方向移动的潜力。我们报告说，焦点接触分布共同决定了细胞的方向性，并且粘合剂区域之间的间隙距离会非线性地增加偏差。微图案上的焦点接触动力学允许将这些现象整合到一个模型中，其中每个焦点接触都被转换为具有已知幅度和方向的力，从而通过成功的实验测试对新条件下的细胞运动进行定量预测。总而言之，我们的研究显示了粘着斑的局部和分钟时间尺度动态及其分布如何通过简单的几何规则导致长期细胞运动。

本文的透明同行评审过程的记录包含在补充信息中。