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Filament capping and nucleation in actin-based motility

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Abstract.

Propulsion by actin polymerization is versatilely used in cell motility. Here, we investigate a model of the semi-flexible region of an actin gel close to a propelled object describing the force generation, the dynamics of the propagation velocity, filament attachment to and detachment from the obstacle surface and dynamics of the number of filaments, which result from filament nucleation and capping. The model equations are derived as moment equations of the length distributions. We find a variety of dynamic regimes. The filament number may respond very sensitively to small changes of the attachment rate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mathematical Cell Physiology, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Robert Rössle Str. 10, 13092, Berlin, Germany

    M. Faber & M. Falcke

  2. Institute for Theoretical Physics, Technische Universität, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623, Berlin, Germany

    M. Enculescu

Authors
  1. M. Faber
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  2. M. Enculescu
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  3. M. Falcke
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Correspondence to M. Faber.

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Faber, M., Enculescu, M. & Falcke, M. Filament capping and nucleation in actin-based motility. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 191, 147–158 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2010-01347-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2010-01347-3

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