Related papers: Model for processive movement of dynein
We present a physical mechanism that can cause the mitotic spindle to oscillate. The driving force for this mechanism emerges from the polymerization of astral microtubules interacting with the cell cortex. We show that Brownian ratchet…
We present dynamical transport calculations based on a tight-binding approximation to adiabatic time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFTB). The reduced device density matrix is propagated through the Liouville-von Neumann equation.…
Microtubules have been in biophysical focus for several decades. Yet the confusing and mutually contradicting results regarding their elasticity and fluctuations have shed some doubts on their present understanding. In this paper we expose…
The motility of adherent eukaryotic cells is driven by the dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton. Despite the common force-generating actin machinery, different cell types often show diverse modes of locomotion that differ in their shape…
A model for the dynamics of actin filament ends along the leading edge of the lamellipodium is analyzed. It contains accounts of nucleation by branching, of deactivation by capping, and of lateral flow along the leading edge by…
We analyse a generic motility model, with the motility mechanism arising by contractile stress due to the interaction of myosin and actin. A hydrodynamic active polar gel theory is used to model the cytoplasm of a cell and is combined with…
Inspired by recent experiments on the dynamics of particles and polymers in artificial cytoskeletons and in cells, we introduce a modified Langevin equation for a particle in an environment that is a viscoelastic medium and that is brought…
A two-state model Hamiltonian is proposed to model the coupling of twisting displacements to charge-transfer behavior in the ground and excited states of a general monomethine dye molecule. This coupling may be relevant to the molecular…
We propose a minimal model, based on active Brownian particles, for the dynamics of cells confined in a two-state micropattern, composed of two rectangular boxes connected by a bridge, and investigate the transition statistics. A transition…
Intracellular transport along microtubules or actin filaments, powered by molecular motors such as kinesins, dyneins or myosins, has been recently modeled using one-dimensional driven lattice gases. We discuss some generalizations of these…
We introduce a new model to study the oscillations of opposite flows sharing a common bottleneck and moving on two Totally Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process (TASEP) lanes. We provide a theoretical analysis of the phase diagram, valid when…
The steps at the crystal surfaces could be transparent for the migrating adatoms. In the case of significant transparency the velocity of a given step in a given moment is affected by detachment of atoms from rather distant steps in rather…
We consider networks made of parallel lanes along which particles hop according to driven diffusive dynamics. The particles also hop transversely from lane to lane, hence indirectly coupling their longitudinal dynamics. We present a general…
Molecular machines described in this paper are meant to be such molecular systems that make use of conformational mobility (i.e. hindered rotation around chemical bonds and molecular construction deformations with formation and breakage of…
We propose a stochastic model that accounts for the growth, catastrophe and rescue processes of steady state microtubules assembled from MAP-free tubulin. Both experimentally and theoretically we study the perturbation of microtubule…
Cells move differently on substrates with different elasticities. In particular, the persistence time of their motion is higher on stiffer substrates. We show that this behavior will result in a net transport of cells directed up a…
Monitoring small groups of sheep in spontaneous evolution in the field, we decipher behavioural rules that sheep follow at the individual scale in order to sustain collective motion. Individuals alternate grazing mode at null speed and…
In nature interactions between biopolymers and motor proteins give rise to biologically essential emergent behaviours. Besides cytoskeleton mechanics, active nematics arise from such interactions. Here we present a study on 3D active…
The complex incremental behavior of granular materials is explored with multi-directional loading probes. An advanced discrete element model (DEM) was used to examine the reversible and irreversible strains for small loading probes, which…
Aligning self-propelled particles undergo a nonequilibrium flocking transition from apolar to polar phases as their interactions become stronger. We propose a thermodynamically consistent lattice model, in which the internal state of the…