Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 8: Posters: Biopolymers and Biomaterials (with CPP)

BP 8.13: Poster

Monday, March 26, 2012, 17:30–19:30, Poster A

Microrheology in syncytial Drosophila embryos — •Alok D. Weßel¹, Takuma Kanesaki², Jörg Großhans², and Christoph F. Schmidt¹ — ¹Drittes Physikalisches Institut, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany — ²Zentrum für Biochemie und Molekulare Zellbiologie, Universitätsmedizin, Georg August-Universität, Göttingen

In early development, Drosophila melanogaster embryos are in a syncytial stage, i.e. multiplying nuclei are not yet separated by membranes, but are interconnected by cytoskeletal polymer networks consisting of actin and microtubules. Between division stages 9 and 13, nuclei and the cytoskeletal network form a 2D cortical layer. We characterize the mechanical properties of this composite network and spatial variations across nuclear compartments as well as temporal variations over the nuclear division cycles via high-speed video-microrheology. We record position fluctuations of injected micron-sized beads with a high-speed camera at sampling frequencies up to tens of kHz. From single-particle dynamics and from multi-particle correlations we can compute viscoelastic material properties.