A universal principle of all living cells is the ability to sense and respond to mechanical stimuli which is essential for many biological processes. Recent efforts have identified critical mechanosensitive molecules and response pathways involved in mechanotransduction during development and tissue homeostasis. Tissue-wide force transmission and local force sensing need to be spatiotemporally coordinated to precisely regulate essential processes during development such as tissue morphogenesis, patterning, cell migration and organogenesis. Understanding how cells identify and interpret extrinsic forces and integrate a specific response on cell and tissue level remains a major challenge. In this review we consider important cellular and physical factors in control of cell-cell mechanotransduction and discuss their significance for cell and developmental processes. We further highlight mechanosensitive macromolecules that are known to respond to external forces and present examples of how force responses can be integrated into cell and developmental programs.

所有活细胞的一个普遍原则是能够感知和响应对许多生物过程至关重要的机械刺激。最近的努力已经确定了在发育和组织稳态过程中参与机械转导的关键机械敏感分子和反应途径。组织范围的力传递和局部力传感需要在时空上进行协调，以精确调节发育过程中的基本过程，例如组织形态发生、图案形成、细胞迁移和器官发生。了解细胞如何识别和解释外在力并整合细胞和组织水平的特定反应仍然是一项重大挑战。在这篇综述中，我们考虑了控制细胞间机械转导的重要细胞和物理因素，并讨论了它们对细胞和发育过程的意义。我们进一步强调了已知会对外力作出反应的机械敏感大分子，并举例说明如何将力反应整合到细胞和发育程序中。