Description: Filamentous active matter: Band formation, bending, buckling, and defects

This title appears in the Scientific Report : 2020

Filamentous active matter: Band formation, bending, buckling, and defects

Motor proteins drive persistent motion and self-organization of cytoskeletal filaments. However, state-of-the-art microscopy techniques and continuum modeling approaches focus on large length and time scales. Here, we perform component-based computer simulations of polar filaments and molecular moto...

Personal Name(s):	Vliegenthart, Gerard A. (Corresponding author)
	Ravichandran, Arvind / Ripoll, Marisol / Auth, Thorsten / Gompper, Gerhard
Contributing Institute:	Theoretische Physik der Lebenden Materie; IBI-5
Published in:	Science advances, 6 (2020) 30, S. eaaw9975
Imprint:	Washington, DC [u.a.] Assoc. 2020
DOI:	10.1126/sciadv.aaw9975
PubMed ID:	32832652
Document Type:	Journal Article
Research Program:	Functional Macromolecules and Complexes
Link:	Get full text Get full text OpenAccess OpenAccess
	Publikationsportal JuSER

Please use the identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw9975 in citations.
Please use the identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/25495 in citations.

Motor proteins drive persistent motion and self-organization of cytoskeletal filaments. However, state-of-the-art microscopy techniques and continuum modeling approaches focus on large length and time scales. Here, we perform component-based computer simulations of polar filaments and molecular motors linking microscopic interactions and activity to self-organization and dynamics from the filament level up to the mesoscopic domain level. Dynamic filament cross-linking and sliding and excluded-volume interactions promote formation of bundles at small densities and of active polar nematics at high densities. A buckling-type instability sets the size of polar domains and the density of topological defects. We predict a universal scaling of the active diffusion coefficient and the domain size with activity, and its dependence on parameters like motor concentration and filament persistence length. Our results provide a microscopic understanding of cytoplasmic streaming in cells and help to develop design strategies for novel engineered active materials.