SFB 863:  Forces in Biomolecular Systems

• Subject Area: Biology ; Physics
• Term: from 2010 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 111166240

Mechanical forces affect and control many vital processes in cells. Examples include genome organisation, cellular transport, cell motility as well as cell development and differentiation. The question of how mechanical cues eventually lead to a complex biological response is still poorly understood despite its importance for many processes of biological and medical relevance. Uncovering the principles underlying molecular mechano-biology requires a multi-faceted approach that combines advanced single molecule mechanical methods, in vitro reconstitution of biomolecular systems as well as imaging and cell biology. In the past 8 years, this CRC has assembled a team of biophysicists, theorists, biochemists and cell biologists with the common goal of studying the effects of mechanical forces on biomolecular systems in an interdisciplinary approach. In the past funding periods, the researchers of this CRC have developed cutting-edge technologies to study bio-mechanical systems from the single molecule level up to the cellular scale. Over this time, strong collaborations have evolved across the different projects, in which the combined expertise in physical technologies and advanced cell biology has resulted in synergies enabling research impossible to conduct for one research group alone. Many key developments within this CRC, like dynamic structure determination using FRET, deconvolution single molecule force spectroscopy, DNA origami based single molecule devices or in vivo force sensors have taken the research to a new level and will now enable experiments inconceivable at the time when this CRC had started. For the next four years, researchers in this CRC will use this momentum and tackle novel questions in biomolecular mechanics. In area A, we will investigate biomechanics on the single molecule level. Research topics will include dynamics and interaction of proteins and molecular machines studied by force spectroscopy techniques as well as molecular dynamics calculations. A new focus will be on mechanical aspects of replication and packaging of DNA using DNA origami, magnetic tweezers as well as flow stretching and MD simulations. In research area B, mechanics on a supra-molecular and cellular scale will be studied. Mechanics of active cytoskeletal networks, molecular motors as well as the mechanics of cell adhesion will be the focus of the projects. This research will provide us with in vitro models for the mechanics of important processes like cell motility and division. With the completion of the full 12 years of this CRC we will have unravelled molecular foundations for many biomechanical processes relevant in the biological and medical sciences.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Completed projects

• A01 - Molecular Force Sensors (Project Head Gaub, Hermann E. )
• A02 - Protein Folding and Interaction Mechanics (Project Head Rief, Matthias )
• A03 - Mechanical Properties of Eukaryotic RNA Polymerases (Project Head Michaelis, Jens )
• A04 - Chaperone Mechanics of the Hsp90 System (Project Heads Buchner, Johannes ;  Hugel, Thorsten ;  Rief, Matthias )
• A05 - Biopolymer Adhesion Mechanics (Project Head Hugel, Thorsten )
• A06 - Friction in Protein and Peptide Dynamics (Project Head Kiefhaber, Thomas )
• A07 - Modelling frictional forces in protein dynamics (Project Heads Dzubiella, Joachim ;  Netz, Roland )
• A08 - Protein Transport and Organisation with Nucleic Acid Based Membrane Devices (Project Head Simmel, Friedrich )
• A09 - Cryo-Electron Microscopy of Biomolecular Assemblies under Force (Project Head Dietz, Hendrik )
• A10 - Molecular Driving Forces for Global Changes in Proteins and Nucleic Acids (Project Head Zacharias, Martin )
• A11 - Nucleic Acids and Chromatin under Forces and Torques (Project Head Lipfert, Jan )
• A12 - Mechanics of Topological Rearrangements during DNA Replication (Project Head Duderstadt, Karl )
• A13 - The fundamental forces of ATP-driven membrane transport (Project Head Cordes, Thorben )
• B01 - Structure Formation in active Cytoskeletal Systems (Project Head Bausch, Andreas )
• B02 - Self-Organization of Cytoskeletal Structures (Project Head Frey, Erwin )
• B03 - Mechanisms of Force Transduction across Talin to Integrin-Ligand Complexes (Project Head Fässler, Reinhard )
• B04 - Cytoskeletal interactions in the nucleus and the nuclear envelope (Project Head Schleicher, Michael )
• B05 - Mechanics of in vivo actin networks (Project Head Wedlich-Söldner, Roland )
• B06 - The Mechanics and Regulation of Myosin Motors (Project Head Veigel, Claudia )
• B07 - Mechanics and Interaction Forces of Components of the Cytoskeleton (Project Heads Rief, Matthias ;  Woehlke, Günther )
• B08 - Functional Relationship between the Actin- and Microtubule-Based Transport Systems (Project Heads Mizuno, Naoko ;  Ökten, Zeynep )
• B09 - Multiplexing FRET-based Tension Sensors to Reveal Cell Adhesion Forces during Collective Cell Migration (Project Head Grashoff, Carsten )
• B10 - Designing a Contractile Ring for Large Membrane Compartments (Project Head Schwille, Petra )
• B11 - Non-Linear Mechanics and Self-Repair in Macromolecular Networks (Project Heads Boekhoven, Job ;  Lieleg, Oliver ;  Opitz, Madeleine )
• B12 - Mechanics of Nucleosome Array Assembly (Project Head Gerland, Ulrich )
• Z - Central Tasks of the Collaborative Research Centre (Project Head Rief, Matthias )

• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Participating University: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
• Participating Institution: Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie (MPIB)
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Matthias Rief