Regensburg 2016 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 51: Posters - Cytosceletal Filaments

BP 51.3: Poster

Mittwoch, 9. März 2016, 17:00–19:00, Poster C

Stochastic Mechanochemical Simulation of Microtubules — •Matthias Schmidt and Jan Kierfeld — Theoretische Physik I, Technische Universität Dortmund

Microtubules are tubular filaments in eukaryotic cells made of α-/β-tubulin heterodimers. They have distinct growth dynamics called dynamic instability which is characterized by catastrophes, i.e. sudden changes from the growing phase to fast shrinkage, and rescues after which the microtubule starts to grow again.

We implement a stochastic simulation which combines the mechanics of the microtubule on tubulin molecule level with the chemical processes like depolymerization into a mechanochemical model. The mechanics of the microtubule are described by longitudinal bonds between tubulin dimers in the same protofilament, lateral interactions between adjacent tubulin molecules via springs and inter- and intra-dimer curling of hydrolyzed tubulin dimers.