New Proposed Mechanism of Actin-Polymerization-Driven Motility
Cell Behavior
2009-11-13 v2 Subcellular Processes
Abstract
We present the first numerical simulation of actin-driven propulsion by elastic filaments. Specifically, we use a Brownian dynamics formulation of the dendritic nucleation model of actin-driven propulsion. We show that the model leads to a self-assembled network that exerts forces on a disk and pushes it with an average speed. This simulation approach is the first to observe a speed that varies non-monotonically with the concentration of branching proteins (Arp2/3), capping protein and depolymerization rate (ADF), in accord with experimental observations. Our results suggest a new interpretation of the origin of motility that can be tested readily by experiment.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0806.0856,
title = {New Proposed Mechanism of Actin-Polymerization-Driven Motility},
author = {Kun-Chun Lee and Andrea J. Liu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0806.0856},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
31 pages, 5 figures