Dresden 2020 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 9: Poster II

BP 9.11: Poster

Monday, March 16, 2020, 17:30–19:30, P2/2OG

Active self-organization and division in nematic droplets — •Fabian Jan Schwarzendahl and Kinjal Dasbiswas — University of California, Merced, 5200 N. Lake Road, Merced, California 95343, USA

Self-organized droplets of biomaterial that grow and divide are potential models for cell behavior as well as novel realizations of active matter. Recent experiments which reconstitute actin filaments into elongated nematic droplets (tactoids) show that myosin motors self-organize at the tactoid center and subsequently deform and divide the tactoid. This recapitulates aspects of cell division in an in vitro model. We present a minimal continuum model that incorporates the nonequilibrium binding and sliding kinetics of myosin motors on the actin filaments that form a nematic droplet at equilibrium. Using simulations, we demonstrate how our model captures the essential dynamics and morphology observed in experiments. First a single tactoid is formed, then myosin motors bind and accumulate within the tactoid. The myosin motors organize actin filaments according to their polarity to from an aster in the tactoids center, which causes the tactoid to deform into two tactoids with myosin motors at their connecting center. We predict how the organization of filaments and timescales involved should differ from potential equilibrium mechanisms that drive myosin motor centering.