Berlin 2008 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 8: Active Filament Networks

BP 8.10: Talk

Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 12:30–12:45, C 243

Instabilities of active gels with stress-dependent depolymerization — •Davood Nourozi and Karsten Kruse — Theoretische Physik, Universität des Saarlandes, Postfach 151150, 66041 Saarbrücken, Germany

The cytoskeleton is a network of filamentous proteins which is responsible for many cellular processes such as crawling on a substrate, division and for organising intracellular transport. It is internally driven by the hydrolysis of ATP, which fuels molecular motors as well as the polymerization and depolymerization of filaments [1]. The physics of such active gels is largely unexplored. Here we study the effect of mechanical stresses on the depolymerization rate. To this end we use a multi-component hydrodynamic description of an active gel [2]. A linear stability analysis of the isotropic homogeneous state reveals various instabilities. Furthermore, we numerically analyse the system behaviour beyond the linear regime. Finall we discuss possible implications of our work for the formation of cellular structures.

[1] Alberts, B. et. al., Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th edition (Garland, New York, 2002).

[2] Joanny, J. F., Jülicher, F., Kruse, K., Prost, J., New J. Phys., in press.