Zipping mechanism for force-generation by growing filament bundles
Soft Condensed Matter
2012-05-02 v1 Biological Physics
Subcellular Processes
Abstract
We investigate the force generation by polymerizing bundles of filaments, which form because of short-range attractive filament interactions. We show that bundles can generate forces by a zipping mechanism, which is not limited by buckling and operates in the fully buckled state. The critical zipping force, i.e. the maximal force that a bundle can generate, is given by the adhesive energy gained during bundle formation. For opposing forces larger than the critical zipping force, bundles undergo a force-induced unbinding transition. For larger bundles, the critical zipping force depends on the initial configuration of the bundles. Our results are corroborated by Monte Carlo simulations.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1103.0399,
title = {Zipping mechanism for force-generation by growing filament bundles},
author = {Torsten Kuehne and Reinhard Lipowsky and Jan Kierfeld},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1103.0399},
year = {2012}
}