https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2010-01347-3
Regular article
Filament capping and nucleation in actin-based motility
1 Mathematical Cell Physiology, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Robert Rössle Str. 10, 13092 Berlin, Germany
2 Institute for Theoretical Physics, Technische Universität, Hardenbergstraße 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany
a e-mail: Michael.Faber@mpikg.mpg.de
Received:
22
November
2010
Revised:
23
December
2010
Published online:
18
February
2011
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.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2011