Related papers: Polymorphism in tubulin assemblies: a mechanical m…
Microtubules (MTs) are self-assembled hollow protein tubes playing important functions in live cells. Their building block is a protein called tubulin, which self-assembles in a particulate 2 dimensional lattice. We study the vibrational…
Tubular crystals, two-dimensional lattices wrapped into cylindrical topologies, arise in many contexts, including botany and biofilaments, and in physical systems such as carbon nanotubes. The geometrical principles of botanical…
Microtubules are stiff filamentary proteins that constitute an important component of the cytoskeleton of cells. These are known to exhibit a dynamic instability. A steadily growing microtubule can suddenly start depolymerizing very…
We consider the three-dimensional instability of a layer of horizontal magnetic field in a polytropic atmosphere where, contrary to previous studies, the field lines in the initial state are not unidirectional. We show that if the twist is…
Biological systems often involve the self-assembly of basic components into complex and function- ing structures. Artificial systems that mimic such processes can provide a well-controlled setting to explore the principles involved and also…
We present a coarse-grained model of clathrin that is simple enough to be computationally tractable yet includes key observed qualitative features: a triskelion structure with excluded volume between legs; assembly of polymorphic cages in…
Recent experiments have exploited elastic instabilities in membranes to create complex patterns. However, the rational design of such structures poses many challenges, as they are products of nonlinear elastic behavior. We pose a simple…
Understanding how living organisms spontaneously develop complex functional structures inspires innovative approaches in engineering design. Here, we introduce a decentralized generative model based on morphogenesis to autonomously grow…
In this work we show that under specific anomalous diffusion conditions, chemical systems can produce well-ordered self-similar concentration patterns through a diffusion-driven instability. We also find spiral patterns and patterns with…
The inner mitochondrial membrane has been shown to have a novel structure that contains tubular components whose radii are on the order of 10 nm as well as comparatively flat regions. The structural organization of mitochondria is important…
We study a one-dimensional model of microtubule assembly/disassembly in which GTP bound to tubulins within the microtubule undergoes stochastic hydrolysis. In contrast to models that only consider a cap of GTP-bound tubulin, stochastic…
Spontaneous mechanical self-assembly of monodisperse bubbles generally leads to disordered foams at low density: producing crystalline structures such as Kelvin foams has proven to be challenging experimentally, despite them being a minimum…
Plasma membrane tubes are ubiquitous in cellular membranes and in the membranes of intracellular organelles. They play crucial roles in trafficking, ion transport, and cellular motility. The formation of plasma membrane tubes can be due to…
There are a great many proteins that localize to and collectively generate curvature in biological fluid membranes. We study changes in the topology of fluid membranes due to the presence of highly anisotropic, curvature-inducing proteins.…
Self-assembly in natural and synthetic molecular systems can create complex aggregates or materials whose properties and functionality rises from their internal structure and molecular arrangement. The key microscopic features that control…
Motivated by recent experiments on biomimetic membranes exposed to several aqueous phases, we theoretically study the morphology of a membrane in contact with a liquid droplet formed via aqueous phase separation. We concentrate on membranes…
We describe a computational model for studying the complexity of self-assembled structures with active molecular components. Our model captures notions of growth and movement ubiquitous in biological systems. The model is inspired by…
The edges of torn plastic sheets and growing leaves often display hierarchical buckling patterns. We show that this complex morphology (i) emerges even in zero strain configurations, and (ii) is driven by a competition between the two…
Molecular self-assembly is a well-known technique to create highly functional nanostructures on surfaces. Self-assembly on two-dimensional materials is a developing field and has already resulted in the discovery of several rich and…
The self-assembly of polyhedral shells, each constructed from 60 trapezoidal particles, is simulated using molecular dynamics. The spatial organization of the component particles in this shell is similar to the capsomer proteins forming the…