Figure 4. Actomyosin regulates the response of cell pairs in the ramp-and-hold experiments.

a. Time series of F-actin in cells stretched to 50% strain at 50 %s⁻¹ and 0.5 %s⁻¹. Scale bar: 10 μm. b. Relative change in F-actin intensity (i) and circular variance (CV) of F-actin fibers over time (ii) while the strain was kept constant within the confinement region. Scale bar: 10 μm c. Relative change in F-actin intensity (i) and the angle of fibers relative to the stretching direction over time within the gap region (90° is parallel to stretching direction) near the cell-cell junction while the strain was held constant. Scale bar: 10 μm. d. The evolution of stress over time in control (N = 10, orange) and Jasplakinolide (Jas) treated (N = 13, brown) cell pairs stretched at 50 %s⁻¹ to 125% strain (average of all curves for each condition ± s.e.). e. The average of the B vs C values calculated from fitting individual curves for the Jas treated cell pairs and the control condition on a semi logarithmic scale. Inset shows the clustered B vs C values where solid triangles and hollow circles represent tensioned and relaxed responses, respectively. f. The probability of tensioning for the control and Jas treated cell pairs in response to 125 % strain applied at 50 %s⁻¹. g. The evolution of stress over time in control (N = 40, green), Bleb (N = 10, olive green), Y-27632 (N = 7, purple), and Lat B (N = 16, pink) treated cell pairs stretched at 25 %s⁻¹ to 50% (average of all curves for each condition ± s.e.). h. The corresponding B vs C values calculated and clustered for the data presented in (g). i. The probability of tensioning for the cell pairs treated with actomyosin modulators and the control condition in response to 50% strain applied at 25 %s⁻¹.