Feeling Stressed? Piezo1-Mediated Loss of Heterochromatin Buys Time for Long-Term Adaptation.

Skin and other epithelial cell layers are frequently subjected to extensive deformations, yet sustain such mechanical stress without damage. In this issue of Cell, Nava and colleagues show that stretch induces rapid loss of heterochromatin that leads to transient softening of the nucleus, which, together with long-term cytoskeletal and supracellular rearrangements, protects nuclei from DNA damage.