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Related papers: Multiscale Microtubule Dynamics in Active Nematics

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Kinesin motors can induce a buckling instability in a microtubule with a fixed minus end. Here we show that by modifying the surface with a protein-repellent functionalization and using clusters of kinesin motors, the microtubule can…

Many cellular processes rely on the cell's ability to transport material to and from the nucleus. Networks consisting of many microtubules and actin filaments are key to this transport. Recently, the inhibition of intracellular transport…

Subcellular Processes · Quantitative Biology 2020-05-06 Shawn D. Ryan , Zachary McCarthy , Mykhailo Potomkin

We investigate the dynamics of elastic capsules suspended in two-dimensional active nematic fluids using lattice Boltzmann simulations. The capsules, modeled as flexible membranes enclosing active internal regions, exhibit a rich variety of…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-04-13 Júlio P. A. Santos , Margarida M. Telo da Gama , Rodrigo C. V. Coelho

We investigate the dispersion of solutes in active nematic fluids confined in narrow channels based on simulations of nematohydrodynamics. The study focuses on two pre-turbulent regimes: oscillatory flow, with net mass flux, and dancing…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-04-13 Tomás Alvim , Margarida M. Telo da Gama , Rodrigo C. V. Coelho

We study how confinement transforms the chaotic dynamics of bulk microtubule-based active nematics into regular spatiotemporal patterns. For weak confinements, multiple continuously nucleating and annihilating topological defects…

We present a generic theory for the dynamics of a stiff filament under tension, in an active medium with orientational correlations, such as a microtubule in contractile actin. In sharp contrast to the case of a passive medium, we find the…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2009-01-28 Norio Kikuchi , Allen Ehrlicher , Daniel Koch , Josef A. Käs , Sriram Ramaswamy , Madan Rao

Growing tissue and bacterial colonies are active matter systems where cell divisions and cellular motion generate active stress. Although they operate in the non-equilibrium regime, these biological systems can form large-scale ordered…

Biological Physics · Physics 2019-05-28 Yusuf Ilker Yaman , Esin Demir , Roman Vetter , Askin Kocabas

Biological activity gives rise to non-equilibrium fluctuations in the cytoplasm of cells; however, there are few methods to directly measure these fluctuations. Using a reconstituted actin cytoskeleton, we show that the bending dynamics of…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2009-11-13 C. P. Brangwynne , G. H. Koenderink , F. C. MacKintosh , D. A. Weitz

We use a continuum, two-fluid approach to study a mixture of two active nematic fluids. Even in the absence of thermodynamically-driven ordering, for mixtures of different activities we observe turbulent microphase separation, where domains…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-02-03 Saraswat Bhattacharyya , Julia M. Yeomans

Essentially all biology is active and dynamic. Biological entities autonomously sense, com- pute, and respond using energy-coupled ratchets that can produce force and do work. The cytoskeleton, along with its associated proteins and motors,…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2017-03-28 Kasimira T. Stanhope , Vikrant Yadav , Christian D. Santangelo , Jennifer L. Ross

The composite cytoskeleton, comprising interacting networks of semiflexible actin and rigid microtubules, actively generates forces and restructures using motor proteins such as myosins to enable key mechanical processes including cell…

Here we study a driven lattice gas model for microtubule depolymerizing molecular motors, where traffic jams of motors induce stochastic switching between microtubule growth and shrinkage. We term this phenomenon \enquote{traffic dynamic…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2015-05-07 Louis Reese , Anna Melbinger , Erwin Frey

We consider an explicit model of a semiflexible filament moving in two dimensions on a gliding assay of motor proteins, which attach to and detach from filament segments stochastically, with a detachment rate that depends on the local load…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2019-05-23 Nisha Gupta , Abhishek Chaudhuri , Debasish Chaudhuri

Movements of molecular motors on cytoskeletal filaments are described by directed walks on a line. Detachment from this line is allowed to occur with a small probability. Motion in the surrounding fluid is described by symmetric random…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2007-05-23 Theo M. Nieuwenhuizen , Stefan Klumpp , Reinhard Lipowsky

We study a simple two-dimensional model for motion of an elastic filament subject to internally generated stresses and show that wave-like propagating shapes which can propel the filament can be induced by a self-organized mechanism via a…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2019-08-17 S. Camalet , F. Julicher , J. Prost

Bundles of filamentous polymers are primary structural components of a broad range of cytoskeletal structures, and their mechanical properties play key roles in cellular functions ranging from locomotion to mechanotransduction and…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2010-02-23 Claus Heussinger , Felix Schueller , Erwin Frey

A phenomenological description for active bundles of polar filaments is presented. The activity of the bundle results from crosslinks, that induce relative displacements between the aligned filaments. Our generic description is based on…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2009-11-07 Karsten Kruse , Frank Julicher

Active semiflexible filament collectives, ranging from motor-driven cytoskeletal filaments to slender organisms such as cyanobacteria and worm aggregates, abound in nature. Yet how activity and flexibility jointly govern their organization,…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-10-21 Twan Hooijschuur , Ehsan Irani , Antoine Deblais , Sara Jabbari-Farouji

During the early developmental process of organisms, the formation of the left-right laterality requires a subtle mechanism, as it is associated with other principal body axes. Any inherent chiral feature in an egg cell can in principal…

In active matter systems, self-propelled particles can self-organize to undergo collective motion, leading to persistent dynamical behavior out of equilibrium. In cells, cytoskeletal filaments and motor proteins self-organize into complex…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2020-05-19 Jeffrey M. Moore , Tyler N. Thompson , Matthew A. Glaser , Meredith D. Betterton