Related papers: Equilibrium Blocking Model of Isometric Tension
Cortical actin networks are highly dynamic and play critical roles in shaping the mechanical properties of cells. The actin cytoskeleton undergoes significant reorganization over the course of the cell cycle, when cortical actin transitions…
Most of the calcium in the body is stored in bone. The rest is stored elsewhere, and calcium signalling is one of the most important mechanisms of information propagation in the body. Yet, many questions remain open. In this work, we…
Many biological processes involve the action of molecular motors that interact with the cell cytoskeleton. Some processes, such as the transport of cargoes is achieved mainly by the action of individual motors. Other, such as cell motility…
Cells make use of semi-flexible biopolymers such as actin or intermediate filaments to control their local viscoelastic response by dynamically adjusting the concentration and type of cross-linker molecules. The microstructure of the…
Actin filaments, crosslinkers and myosin molecular motors form contractile networks. For instance, the cell cortex is a thin network below the cell membrane ; contraction of the cell cortex allows cells to round up during cell division.…
We have studied the elastic response of actin networks with both compliant and rigid crosslinks by modeling molecular motors as force dipoles. Our finite element simulations show that for compliant crosslinkers such as filamin A, the…
Simulations of laser-induced electron dynamics in a molecular system are performed using time-dependent (TD) equation-of-motion (EOM) coupled-cluster (CC) theory. The target system has been chosen to highlight potential shortcomings of…
Actomyosin contractility is essential for biological force generation, and is well understood in highly organized structures such as striated muscle. Additionally, actomyosin bundles devoid of this organization are known to contract both in…
Equilibrating proteins and other biomacromolecules is cardinal for molecular dynamics simulation of such biological systems in which they perform free dynamics without any externally-applied mechanical constraint, until thermodynamic…
We present a microscopic model of a disordered viscoelastic active solid, i.e. an active material whose long time behaviour is elastic as opposed to viscous. It is composed of filaments, passive crosslinks and molecular motors powered by…
Calcium (Ca2+) signalling is one of the most important mechanisms of information propagation in the body. In embryogenesis the interplay between Ca2+ signalling and mechanical forces is critical to the healthy development of an embryo but…
Skeletal muscle modeling has a vital role in movement studies and the development of therapeutic approaches. In the current study, a Huxley-based model for skeletal muscle is proposed, which demonstrates the impact of impairments in muscle…
Astrocytes express a large variety of G~protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) which mediate the transduction of extracellular signals into intracellular calcium responses. This transduction is provided by a complex network of biochemical…
Observations of single epidermal cells on flat adhesive substrates have revealed two distinct morphological and functional states, namely a non-migrating symmetric unpolarized state and a migrating asymmetric polarized state. These states…
Actin and myosin drive many instances of force generation, deformation, and shape change in cells, tissues, and organisms. In particular, cytoskeletal actomyosin is remarkable in its adaptive architecture, responding to a host of…
The key to understanding a protein's function often lies in its conformational dynamics. We develop a coarse-grained variational model to investigate the interplay between structural transitions, conformational flexibility and function of…
Contact inhibition is the process by which cells switch from a motile growing state to a passive and stabilized state upon touching their neighbors. When two cells touch, an adhesion link is created between them by means of transmembrane…
The flexibility in the structure of calmodulin (CaM) allows its binding to over 300 target proteins in the cell. To investigate the structure-function relationship of CaM, we combined methods of computer simulation and experiments based on…
Calcium and reactive oxygen species (ROS) interact with each other and play an important role in cell signaling networks. Based on the existing mathematical models, we develop an age-dependent feedback control model to simulate the…
Calmodulin (CaM) is a ubiquitous calcium binding protein consisting of two structurally similar domains with distinct stabilities, binding affinities, and flexibilities. We present coarse grained simulations that suggest the mechanism for…