3D confinement physically regulates cell cycle progression in budding yeast
Abstract
Our understanding of cell division control traditionally comes via using liquid broths or 2D flat-plate cultures - which cannot recapitulate the complex visco-elasto-plastic properties of natural habitats such as tissues, mucus, and soil. Consequently, how such regimes of physical confinement influence proliferative growth remains poorly understood. Here, using engineered, mechanically tunable and transparent growth matrices, we directly visualize yeast budding and division across 3D viscoelastic regimes. We discover that elevated physical confinement drastically prolongs budding intervals without any physiological defects or activating global regulatory programs. Remarkably, extended cell division times are not associated with transcriptional or proteomic signatures of mechanosensation or cell cycle regulation. Rather, 3D confinement physically constrains the volumetric growth of incipient buds - manifesting as delayed cell cycle progression. Hence, our findings establish that physical constrainment regulates eukaryotic cell division.
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BibTeX
@article{sreepadmanabh2026confinement,
title = {{3D confinement physically regulates cell cycle progression in budding yeast}},
author = {M. Sreepadmanabh and Mridul Gautam and Nikita Bagade and Sunil Laxman and Tapomoy Bhattacharjee},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-78414-y},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78414-y},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - 3D confinement physically regulates cell cycle progression in budding yeast
AU - M. Sreepadmanabh
AU - Mridul Gautam
AU - Nikita Bagade
AU - Sunil Laxman
AU - Tapomoy Bhattacharjee
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-78414-y
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78414-y
AB - Our understanding of cell division control traditionally comes via using liquid broths or 2D flat-plate cultures - which cannot recapitulate the complex visco-elasto-plastic properties of natural habitats such as tissues, mucus, and soil. Consequently, how such regimes of physical confinement influence proliferative growth remains poorly understood. Here, using engineered, mechanically tunable and transparent growth matrices, we directly visualize yeast budding and division across 3D viscoelastic regimes. We discover that elevated physical confinement drastically prolongs budding intervals without any physiological defects or activating global regulatory programs. Remarkably, extended cell division times are not associated with transcriptional or proteomic signatures of mechanosensation or cell cycle regulation. Rather, 3D confinement physically constrains the volumetric growth of incipient buds - manifesting as delayed cell cycle progression. Hence, our findings establish that physical constrainment regulates eukaryotic cell division.
SN - 2041-1723
ER -