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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 26: Focus Session: Bioinspired Systems

BP 26.2: Vortrag

Donnerstag, 8. September 2022, 15:30–15:45, H15

Self-organization of microtubule filaments in energy dissipative evaporating droplet — •Vahid Nasirimarekani, Olinka Ramirez-soto, Stefan Karpitschka, and Isabella Guido — Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

Cytoskeletal assemblies such as microtubule networks and motor proteins of the kinesin family drive vital cellular processes that, together with cargo delivery and cell division, also include providing mechanical stability when cells are exposed to external stresses. How these self-organising structures can orchestrate such response is not yet well understood. In this study, we develop a bioinspired system resembling intracellular cytoskeletal networks and characterise its activity under the influence of external stress. For this purpose, we confine an active network of microtubules and kinesin motors in an evaporating aqueous droplet. This setup serves as a bioreactor that enables to apply forces to the active system. Namely, the flow field generated by the Marangoni and capillary flow couples with the active stress of the microtubule-motor protein network. We observe that this coupling influences the spatio-temporal distribution of the driving forces and the emergent behaviour of the system, which shows contracting and relaxing behaviour. By analysing such non-equilibrium systems, our study can contribute to understand the response of biological structures to cues from the external environment.