Berlin 2008 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 24: Actin Dynamics

BP 24.8: Talk

Thursday, February 28, 2008, 16:15–16:30, C 243

Physical principles of self-organized cell locomotion — •Konstantin Doubrovinski — Universität des Saarlandes, Geb E26, Postfach 151150, 66041 Saarbrücken

Experiments on crawling cell fragments of fish keratocytes indicate that cell locomotion can emerge from self-organization of the cytoskeleton. The underlying physical mechaism, however, is still poorly understood. Recent experiments on human neutrophils, which are the most abundant white blood cells, indicate that intracellular spiral waves of the protein HEM, which regulates actin polymerization are essential for driving membrane portrusions at the leading edge [1]. We propose a physical description of spiral waves in human neutrophils, based on experimental findings. A key element of our description is the treatment of interactions between the cytoskeleton and the membrane through a phase-field. In addition to persistent uni-directional locomotion, we find that the system can self-organize into polymerization waves lateral to the membrane. Such waves have been observed in spreading cells [2] and indicate a common mechanism of cell locomotion and spreading.

[1] Weiner et. al. (2007) PLoS Biol 5 e221

[2] Doebereiner et. al. (2006) Phys. Rev. Lett. 97 038102