{"doi":"10.1101/2020.01.07.897249","title":"Quantifying Tensile Forces at Cell–Cell Junctions with a DNA-based Fluorescent Probe","abstract":"SUMMARY Cells are physically contacting with each other. Direct and precise quantification of forces at cell–cell junctions is still challenging. Herein, we have developed a DNA-based ratiometric fluorescent probe, termed DNAMeter, to quantify intercellular tensile forces. These lipid-modified DNAMeters can spontaneously anchor onto live cell membranes. The DNAMeter consists of two self-assembled DNA hairpins of different force tolerance. Once the intercellular tension exceeds the force tolerance to unfold a DNA hairpin, a specific fluorescence signal will be activated, which enables the real-time imaging and quantification of tensile forces. Using E-cadherin-modified DNAMeter as an example, we have demonstrated an approach to quantify, at the molecular level, the magnitude and distribution of E-cadherin tension among epithelial cells. Compatible with readily accessible fluorescence microscopes, these easy-to-use DNA tension probes can be broadly used to quantify mechanotransduction in collective cell behaviors.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2020,"id":123382,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":3,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9527,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":319503,"name":"Ningwei Li","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":318586,"name":"Tianfa Xie","orcid":"0000-0003-1332-4373","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":318588,"name":"Chungwen Liang","orcid":"0000-0001-9721-6411","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":318587,"name":"Yousef Bagheri","orcid":"0000-0001-9725-9286","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":318590,"name":"Yubing Sun","orcid":"0000-0002-6831-3383","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":318591,"name":"Mingxu You","orcid":"0000-0002-5279-2340","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":318585,"name":"Bin Zhao","orcid":"0000-0002-0987-4586","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":62,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:14:59.547352Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}