Regensburg 2025 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 43: Active Matter IV (joint session BP/CPP/DY)

DY 43.10: Talk

Friday, March 21, 2025, 12:15–12:30, H44

Myosin-independent amoeboid cell motility — •Winfried Schmidt, Alexander Farutin, and Chaouqi Misbah — Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, LIPhy, F-38000 Grenoble, France

Mammalian cell motility is essential for many physiological and pathological processes, such as the immune system, embryonic development, wound healing, and cancer metastasis. Cells have developed the amoeboid migration mode which allows them to move rapidly in a variety of different environments, including two-dimensional confinement, three-dimensional matrix, and bulk fluids. We introduce a model for an amoeboid cell where the cortex is described as a thin shell along the cell surface. The cell shape evolves due to polymerization of actin filaments and the forces acting on the cortex. We find analytically and numerically that the state of a resting, non-polarized cell can become unstable for sufficiently large actin polymerization velocities, resulting in the spontaneous onset of cell polarity, migration, and dynamical shape changes. Notably, this transition only relies on actin polymerization and does not necessitate molecular motors, such as myosin. These findings yield a deeper understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of cell movement and simultaneously provide a simple mechanism for cell motility in diverse configurations.

Keywords: cell migration; actin cortex; spontaneous symmetry breaking; retrograde cortical flow