Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 25: Posters: Cytoskeleton
BP 25.15: Poster
Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 17:30–19:30, Poster C
Laser ablation on actomyosin network — •Arnab Saha1, Guillaume Salbreux1, Frank Jülicher1, and Stephan Grill1,2 — 1Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems Nöthnitzer Straße 38 01187 Dresden Germany — 2Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics Pfotenhauerstr. 108 01307 Dresden, Germany
The cell cortex is a thin layer beneath the membrane that largely consists of cross-linked actin filaments, non-muscle myosin motor protein and a plethora of actin binding proteins (ABPs). Collective dynamics of myosin over actin meshwork (assembled by ABPs), that converts chemical energy to mechanical work by ATP hydrolysis, generates active contractility at large cellular length scales. Contractility can build up mechanical stress in the cortex. Sudden up-or-down regulation of myosin induces spatial inhomogeneity in the stress profile which finally leads to cortical flow.
One need to investigate the flow pattern in order to understand the physical properties of the actomyosin network. Here we describe the actomyosin mesh at a coarse grained level as a viscoelastic, active and contractile gel. We develop a two dimensional hydrodynamic model, valid at long length scales and short to long time scales (incorporating both elastic and viscous regimes), using basic symmetry principles and conservation laws. The description is then used to investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics observed after the laser ablation on actomyosin cable during zebrafish epiboly.