Mechanosensitive self-assembly of myosin II minifilaments

Self-assembly and force generation are two central processes in biological systems that usually are considered in separation. However, the signals that activate nonmuscle myosin II molecular motors simultaneously lead to self-assembly into myosin II minifilaments as well as progression of the motor...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Grewe, Justin (Author) , Schwarz, Ulrich S. (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: 5 February 2020
In: Physical review
Year: 2020, Volume: 101, Issue: 2
ISSN:2470-0053
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevE.101.022402
Online Access:Verlag, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.101.022402
Verlag: https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.101.022402
Get full text
Author Notes:Justin Grewe and Ulrich S. Schwarz
Description
Summary:Self-assembly and force generation are two central processes in biological systems that usually are considered in separation. However, the signals that activate nonmuscle myosin II molecular motors simultaneously lead to self-assembly into myosin II minifilaments as well as progression of the motor heads through the cross-bridge cycle. Here we investigate theoretically the possible effects of coupling these two processes. Our assembly model, which builds on a consensus architecture of the minifilament, predicts a critical aggregation concentration at which the assembly kinetics slows down dramatically. The combined model predicts that increasing actin filament concentration and force both lead to a decrease in the critical aggregation concentration. We suggest that due to these effects, myosin II minifilaments in a filamentous context might be in a critical state that reacts faster to varying conditions than in solution. We finally compare our model to experiments by simulating fluorescence recovery after photobleaching.
Item Description:Gesehen am 24.02.2020
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:2470-0053
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevE.101.022402