It is generally believed that similar to soluble ligand-induced signal transduction, mechanotransduction initiates at the local force-membrane interface (e.g., at focal adhesions) by inducing local conformational changes or unfolding of membrane-bound proteins, followed by a cascade of diffusion-based or translocation-based signaling in the cytoplasm. However, all published reports, including past studies with the reporter type of construct extended here, were limited in timescale to address this fundamental issue.