Self-organized cell motility from motor-filament interactions

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cell motility is driven primarily by the dynamics of the cell cytoskeleton, a system of filamentous proteins and molecular motors. It has been proposed that cell motility is a self-organized process, that is, local short-range interactions determine much of the dynamics that are required for the whole-cell organization that leads to polarization and directional motion. Here we present a mesoscopic mean-field description of filaments, motors, and cell boundaries. This description gives rise to a dynamical system that exhibits multiple self-organized states. We discuss several qualitative aspects of the asymptotic states and compare them with those of living cells.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1738-1745
Number of pages8
JournalBiophysical journal
Volume102
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 18 2012

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics

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