Berlin 2015 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 22: Posters: Cytoskeletal filaments

BP 22.11: Poster

Dienstag, 17. März 2015, 14:00–16:00, Poster A

Cooperative Microtubule Dynamics within a closed Elastic Membrane — •Jonas Hegemann and Jan Kierfeld — TU Dortmund, 44221 Dortmund, Germany

Microtubules as an essential part of the cytoskeleton are known to interact mechanically with the cell membrane. Since local pertubations can affect the global shape, this generates a coupling between different microtubules. We investigate a simulation model of the polymerization dynamics of a microtubule ensemble confined within a closed, elastic membrane in two dimensions. This serves as a simple model for microtubules in a cell cortex. Microtubules are coupled via their growth velocities, which depend on local forces derived from an elastic energy functional. The membrane dynamically reacts to stochastic displacements produced by the microtubules. Depending on the elastic properties and the relaxation time of the membrane we find different regimes of collective microtubule dynamics. For fast relaxation times microtubule oscillations from catastrophe and rescue events synchronize. Furthermore, we show that the centrosome performs a random walk.