Molecular Mechanocytometry Using Tension-activated Cell Tagging (TaCT)

Flow cytometry is routinely used to measure single-cell gene expression by staining cells with fluorescent antibodies and nucleic acids. Here we present Tension-activated Cell Tagging (TaCT) to fluorescently label cells based on the magnitude of molecular force transmitted through cell adhesion receptors. As a proof-of-concept, we analyzed fibroblasts and mouse platelets after TaCT using conventional flow cytometry.