Mechanobiology-chemical origin of membrane mechanical resistance and force-dependent signaling.

•We discuss the role of membranes in mechanotransduction.•The chemical composition of lipid membranes directly affects its nanomechanical properties.•We comment on the different experimental techniques able to probe membrane mechanics.•We describe how force spectroscopy using AFM can explore the nanomechanics of membranes.•We discuss the role of membrane tension on a variety of cellular physicochemical phenomena.