Dresden 2020 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 10: Poster III
BP 10.14: Poster
Monday, March 16, 2020, 17:30–19:30, P2/3OG
Three-dimensional modeling of a viscous active cell cortex — •Christian Bächer1, Diana Khoromskaia2, Guillaume Salbreux2, and Stephan Gekle1 — 1Biofluid Simulation and Modeling, Theoretische Physik VI, Universität Bayreuth, Germany — 2The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
In a biological cell active mechanical stresses in the cortex can lead to flows resulting in strong deformations. We use a thin shell formulation of an active gel in the viscous limit [1] to build a numerical model of a fully three dimensional viscous, active cell cortex. For given active stress distribution, we numerically determine the flow field in the cortex, which directly gives the triggered deformation. Our algorithm consists of two parts: first, a minimization ansatz solves the force balance in presence of viscous and active stresses on the triangulated, three-dimensional cortex. Second, the viscous stresses at a node are expressed in terms of the velocity vectors of the neighboring nodes using an analytically inverted parabolic fitting procedure. Together, this leads to a system of equations which we solve numerically for the flow field on the discretized cortex. Our algorithm provides a versatile and flexible tool, which can easily be extended, e.g., to an active stress coupled to a concentration field, and furthermore allows for a dynamic coupling of the cell cortex to an inner and surrounding fluid.
[1] G. Salbreux, F. Jülicher, Phys. Rev. E 96(3), 2017