1. Effects of spatial dimensionality and steric interactions on microtubule-motor self-organization
- Author
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Jamie Rickman, Thomas Surrey, François Nédélec, and Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository
- Subjects
Paper ,Steric effects ,Computer science ,self-organisation ,Biophysics ,3d model ,Microtubules ,molecular motors ,Imaging ,Motor protein ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Structural Biology ,Microtubule ,State space ,computer simulations ,Cytosim ,Computer Simulation ,Molecular Biology ,Cytoskeleton ,Computational & Systems Biology ,030304 developmental biology ,Self-organization ,0303 health sciences ,Molecular Motor Proteins ,active networks ,Cell Biology ,Cross-Linking Reagents ,Synthetic Biology ,Protein Multimerization ,Biological system ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Structural Biology & Biophysics ,Curse of dimensionality ,Active networking ,Signal Transduction - Abstract
Active networks composed of filaments and motor proteins can self-organize into a variety of architectures. Computer simulations in two or three spatial dimensions and including or omitting steric interactions between filaments can be used to model active networks. Here we examine how these modelling choices affect the state space of network self-organization. We compare the networks generated by different models of a system of dynamic microtubules and microtubule-crosslinking motors. We find that a thin 3D model that includes steric interactions between filaments is the most versatile, capturing a variety of network states observed in recent experiments. In contrast, 2D models either with or without steric interactions which prohibit microtubule crossings can produce some, but not all, observed network states. Our results provide guidelines for the most appropriate choice of model for the study of different network types and elucidate mechanisms of active network organization.
- Published
- 2019