Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 12: Molecular Motors

BP 12.3: Talk

Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 10:15–10:30, H43

Passive and active cross-linkers can conjointly generate a stable finite overlap between antiparallel polar filaments — Debajit Goswami and •Karsten Kruse — Theoretische Physik, Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken, Germany

During cell division, pairing of sister chromosomes and their segregation is driven by the mitotic spindle. This bipolar structure microtubules consists mostly of microtubules, motor proteins and further associated proteins regulating microtubule dynamics and cross-linking. Through their combined action, a stable structure of overlapping antiparallel microtubules is generated. How this state is maintained is currently unknown. Recently, a possible mechanism based on passive cross-linkers and molecular motors was studied experimentally in vitro. We present a stochastic model for a pair of antiparallel polar filaments that interact via active and passive cross-links. We investigate in detail the dependence of the overlap region's size on parameters. We then apply our system to the specific cases of the active cross-linkers Eg5 and Ncd, respectively, as well as the passive cross-linker Ase1.