Open Access

ARTICLE

Deletion of the TPM1 and MDM20 Genes Affect the Mechanical and Structural Properties of Yeast Cells

Annette Doyle^*, Steven R. Crosby^†, David R. Burton^*, Francis Lilley^*, Gary Johnston^*, Winder B. Perez^‡, Terri G. Kinzy^‡, Mark F. Murphy^*,†,§

* General Engineering Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 3AF. UK.
† School of Pharmacy & Biomolecular Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 3AF. UK.
‡ Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Rutgers, The State Universiy of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8554
§ Author for Correspondence. Email: M.F.Murphy@ljmu.ac.uk; Tel: +44 (0) 151 231 2061; Fax: +44 (0)151 231 2158.

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics 2013, 10(4), 275-288. https://doi.org/10.3970/mcb.2013.010.275

Abstract

Many diseases including cancer are associated with a disorganised cytoskeleton. The process of characterising how cytoskeletal disorganisation affects the mechanical properties of cells offers the potential to develop new drugs and treatment regimes that may exploit mechanical weakness in cells and tissues. This work investigated the role of actin associated proteins, namely tropomyosin 1 (tpm1p) and mitochondrial distribution and morphology protein 20 (mdm20p), on the mechanical and morphological properties of yeast cells. For the first time it was shown that deletion of both the TPM1 and MDM20 genes resulted in a decrease in Young’s modulus when compared to the wild-type cells. The deletion strains appeared to have aberrant cell walls when compared to the wild-type strain and also appeared to have lost the characteristic elliptical morphology that is normally exhibited by yeast. Deletion of the TPM1 gene resulted in a significant increase in mean conjugate cell diameter when compared to the wild-type cells, however deletion of the MDM20 gene did not have any significant effect upon the mean conjugate diameter of the yeast cells.

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