TraitMech

TraitMech › PHYSIOLOGY

durotaxis

traitmech:000596 · CLASS · PROPOSED

A motile phenotype in which active migration is directionally biased in response to a spatial gradient in substrate stiffness.

Trait evidence (3)

  • DOI:10.7554/eLife.96821
    Dictyostelium also displayed stiff-side directed motility when seeded on the gradient gel

    Kang et al., Version of Record (v4), 2024-12-13, https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.96821.4; full text https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11643633/ (PMID:39671466). Exact Results paragraph span in Amoeboid durotaxis is evolutionarily conserved, not an abstract quote. Figure 4 was visually inspected: confined Dictyostelium cells on polyacrylamide stiffness gradients had greater directional migration than uniform-gel controls, without a significant velocity difference. Blebbistatin reduced directionality and speed; Rho activator II increased them. These pharmacological results do not isolate a dedicated stiffness sensor. Supplementary file 1 contains simulation parameters; the MDAR checklist refers to cell-culture methods but does not resolve the assayed Dictyostelium strain. Mammalian NMIIA localization and knockdown results are not direct microbial protein evidence.

  • DOI:10.1088/1361-6463/adb6b8
    Our findings reveal directional persistence and strong polarization of the plasmodia towards regions of stiffer substrates, indicating a guided migration response.

    Filipinas and Confesor, published online 2025-02-27. Exact abstract span in the publisher-deposited Crossref record, https://api.crossref.org/works/10.1088/1361-6463/adb6b8. The authors report tracking Physarum polycephalum plasmodial nodes on agar stiffness gradients. This is independent microbial support for stiffness-directed migration, not merely a simulation prediction. Full methods, figures and supplements were not inspected; strain provenance, gradient controls and the distinction between node migration and growth remain to be assessed before adding a canonical example or mechanistic graph. The abstract's simulation-supported gradient-independence claim is not generalized to all microbes.

  • DOI:10.1038/s41563-022-01294-2
    Our results identify the molecular mechanism driving context-dependent positive or negative durotaxis, determined by a cell's contractile and adhesive machinery.

    Isomursu et al., published 2022-07-11, PMID:35817964. Exact final abstract sentence in the Europe PMC MED record, https://europepmc.org/article/MED/35817964; the publisher's abstract corroborates positive and negative durotaxis usage. This mammalian cell study supports polarity-neutral terminology only, not an additional microbial observation. Its mechanism claim is not transferred to microbes. Full methods, figures and supplements were not inspected for this terminology check. The two microbial studies above report stiff-side migration; negative microbial durotaxis is not established by these sources.

Provenance

Identifier source
TraitMech local identifier
Definition source
DOI:10.7554/eLife.96821

Parent traits (1)

kg-microbe context

No kg-microbe node embedding matched this record in the 2026-04-25 deepwalk.

Discussions and Knowledge Gaps (2)

Open questions attached to this trait. Seeded by just knowledge-gap-scan and curated; see the corpus-wide index.

Keep stiffness-directed migration distinct from other mechanical responses.

CURATION TODO OPEN durotaxis-stiffness-and-migration-boundaries · raised by codex · 2026-10-04

Not yet attached to a section of this record — a curator sets attaches_to (e.g. causal_graphs#some_edge) so the gap shows beside the mechanism it concerns.

The class is polarity-neutral: positive and negative responses are directions along the stiffness gradient, not different stimuli. Isomursu et al. (DOI:10.1038/s41563-022-01294-2) support this terminology in mammalian cells, not negative microbial durotaxis. Both microbial studies here report stiff-side migration; no opposite microbial response is inferred. Speed changes on uniform substrates, passive displacement and differential growth alone are insufficient. Contact-guided polarized growth in thigmotropism (traitmech:000594) is a different response. Do not infer durotaxis from a friction gradient, surface topography or remote substrate deformation without direct evidence for stiffness-directed migration. Mechanotaxis is broader, not an exact synonym. QuickGO returned zero durotaxis hits on 2026-10-04; other external equivalences remain unverified. No xref or synonym is inferred.

Resolve experimental strains and microbial protein evidence before graphing.

CURATION TODO OPEN durotaxis-strain-and-mechanism-grounding · raised by codex · 2026-10-04

Not yet attached to a section of this record — a curator sets attaches_to (e.g. causal_graphs#some_edge) so the gap shows beside the mechanism it concerns.

Kang's methods cite Li et al. (DOI:10.3389/fcell.2022.835185), whose cell-culture methods describe Ax2-derived cells and expression constructs. That citation does not uniquely identify the cells used for Kang's Figure 4 or establish natural-strain provenance. Resolve that identity and inspect the Physarum full methods before adding NCBI-grounded canonical examples. Dictyostelium inhibitor/activator responses support a contractility-related interpretation, not a resolved protein-level sensing pathway. Do not transfer mammalian NMIIA polarization or knockdown effects to an unverified microbial accession, or treat the active gel model as a biological perturbation. Mechanistic graphs are deferred pending taxon-paired proteins and bounded causal evidence; NONMECHANISTIC is not a workaround.

Curation history

  1. · MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID · codex

    Added durotaxis with two independent microbial DOI citations and exact full-text/abstract snippets. Ignored-and-hidden novelty searches and structured OWL review found no exact record or METPO term. Reserved METPO:1055000 in v473 under motile. Inspected Kang v4 Figure 4, methods and relevant supplement documents; kept stiffness-directed migration distinct from speed changes and contact-guided growth. Deferred canonical strains and protein-level mechanisms rather than inferring them from mammalian experiments.

  2. · CORRECTED_DEFINITION_SCOPE · codex

    Addressed review issue #1669: made the unqualified durotaxis class and METPO proposal polarity-neutral. Kept the observed stiff-side microbial responses in evidence notes and added Isomursu et al. only for positive/negative terminology, without transferring mammalian mechanisms or claiming negative microbial observations.