Simple model of cytoskeletal fluctuations

Metzner C, Raupach C, Paranhos Zitterbart D, Fabry B (2007)


Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2007

Journal

Book Volume: 76

Pages Range: 1-12

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.76.021925

Abstract

The spontaneous motion of microbeads bound to the cytoskeleton of living cells is not an ordinary random walk. Unlike Brownian motion, the mean-square displacement undergoes a transition from subdiffusive to superdiffusive behavior with time. This transition is associated with characteristic changes of the turning angle distribution. Recent experimental data demonstrated that force fluctuations measured in an elastic hydrogel matrix beneath the cell correlate with the bead motion. These data indicate that the bead trajectory is driven by motor forces originating from the actomyosin network and that cytoskeletal remodeling processes with short- and long-time dynamics are mainly responsible for the non-Brownian behavior. We show that the essential statistical properties of the spontaneous bead motion can be reproduced by a particle diffusing in a potential well with a slowly drifting minimum position. Based on this simple model, which can be solved analytically, we develop a biologically plausible numerical model of a tensed and continuously remodeling actomyosin network that accounts quantitatively for the measured data. © 2007 The American Physical Society.

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How to cite

APA:

Metzner, C., Raupach, C., Paranhos Zitterbart, D., & Fabry, B. (2007). Simple model of cytoskeletal fluctuations. Physical Review E, 76, 1-12. https://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.76.021925

MLA:

Metzner, Claus, et al. "Simple model of cytoskeletal fluctuations." Physical Review E 76 (2007): 1-12.

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