Cover Image

Molecular motor-induced instabilities and cross linkers determine biopolymer organization

All eukaryotic cells rely on the active self-organization of protein filaments to form a responsive intracellular cytoskeleton. The necessity of motility and reaction to stimuli additionally requires pathways that quickly and reversibly change cytoskeletal organization. While thermally driven order-...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Smith, David (Author) , Ziebert, Falko (Author) , Humphrey, D. (Author) , Duggan, C. (Author) , Steinbeck, M. (Author) , Zimmermann, W. (Author) , Käs, Josef (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: 2007
In: Biophysical journal
Year: 2007, Volume: 93, Issue: 12, Pages: 4445-4452
ISSN:1542-0086
DOI:10.1529/biophysj.106.095919
Online Access:Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1529/biophysj.106.095919
Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006349507716958
Get full text
Author Notes:D. Smith, F. Ziebert, D. Humphrey, C. Duggan, M. Steinbeck, W. Zimmermann, and J. Käs
Description
Summary:All eukaryotic cells rely on the active self-organization of protein filaments to form a responsive intracellular cytoskeleton. The necessity of motility and reaction to stimuli additionally requires pathways that quickly and reversibly change cytoskeletal organization. While thermally driven order-disorder transitions are, from the viewpoint of physics, the most obvious method for controlling states of organization, the timescales necessary for effective cellular dynamics would require temperatures exceeding the physiologically viable temperature range. We report a mechanism whereby the molecular motor myosin II can cause near-instantaneous order-disorder transitions in reconstituted cytoskeletal actin solutions. When motor-induced filament sliding diminishes, the actin network structure rapidly and reversibly self-organizes into various assemblies. Addition of stable cross linkers was found to alter the architectures of ordered assemblies. These isothermal transitions between dynamic disorder and self-assembled ordered states illustrate that the interplay between passive crosslinking and molecular motor activity plays a substantial role in dynamic cellular organization.
Item Description:Available online 7 January 2009
Elektronische Reproduktion der Druck-Ausgabe
Gesehen am 21.09.2022
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:1542-0086
DOI:10.1529/biophysj.106.095919

Similar Items