Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 23: Cytoskeleton (joint BP/CPP)

BP 23.9: Talk

Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 12:00–12:15, HÜL 386

Network elasticity of microtubules cross-linked with ds DNA — •Meenakshi Prabhune¹, Knut Heidemann², Max Wardetzky², Christoph F. Schmidt¹, and Florian Rehfeldt¹ — ¹Third Institute of Physics-Biophysics, Georg August University, Göttingen — ²Department for Numerical and Applied Mathematics, Georg August University, Göttingen

The cytoskeleton is a composite polymer network of cytoskeletal filaments ranging from rod-like microtubules and actin bundles to softer semi-flexible intermediate filaments and actin filaments. Studying the interactions between these heterogeneous filaments is an important step in understanding cell mechanics. Single-component in vitro networks have been studied, but well defined composites are more difficult to construct and are not yet well understood. Here, we have generated heterogeneous networks in vitro by cross-linking microtubules using ds DNA via a hetero-bifunctional cross-linker (sulpho SMCC). DNA as a cross-linker has the unique advantage of having a monodisperse well-defined length, which we vary in our experiments. We have measured the linear and nonlinear shear-elastic response in these networks by macrorheology experiments. Simultaneously, we also compare the experimental data to numerical simulations that we have developed for networks of stiff slender rods connected by semi-flexible linkers.