Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 5: Posters: Biopolymers and Biomaterials

BP 5.9: Poster

Monday, March 22, 2010, 17:15–20:00, Poster B1

Force-generation by growing microtubules — •Björn Zelinski¹ and Jan Kierfeld² — ¹Physics Department, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany — ²Physics Department, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany

In many cellular processes polymerization forces play an important role. We investigate force generation for growing microtubules undergoing dynamic instability using a two-state Monte-Carlo simulation. We find that the maximum force generated by a single microtubule strongly depends on the catastrophe- and rescue-dynamics. We also study cooperative effects in force generation by an ensemble of N microtubules.