Modeling the formation of in vitro filopodia

DOI10.1007/S00285-010-0371-7zbMATH Open1230.92015arXiv0909.2594OpenAlexW2143097535WikidataQ44364757 ScholiaQ44364757MaRDI QIDQ659027FDOQ659027

Authors: Juan-Miguel Gracia 

Publication date: 9 February 2012

Published in: Journal of Mathematical Biology (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Filopodia are bundles of actin filaments that extend out ahead of the leading edge of a crawling cell to probe its upcoming environment. {it In vitro} experiments [D. Vignjevic {it et al.}, J. Cell Biol. {�f 160}, 951 (2003)] have determined the minimal ingredients required for the formation of filopodia from the dendritic-like morphology of the leading edge. We model these experiments using kinetic aggregation equations for the density of growing bundle tips. In mean field, we determine the bundle size distribution to be broad for bundle sizes smaller than a characteristic bundle size above which the distribution decays exponentially. Two-dimensional simulations incorporating both bundling and cross-linking measure a bundle size distribution that agrees qualitatively with mean field. The simulations also demonstrate a nonmonotonicity in the radial extent of the dendritic region as a function of capping protein concentration, as was observed in experiments, due to the interplay between percolation and the ratcheting of growing filaments off a spherical obstacle.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0909.2594

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zbMATH Keywords

Kinetic aggregationNonequilibrium actin bundling

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Probabilistic models, generic numerical methods in probability and statistics (65C20) PDEs in connection with biology, chemistry and other natural sciences (35Q92) Cell biology (92C37) Applications of statistical mechanics to specific types of physical systems (82D99)

Cites Work

• Models for Branching Networks in Two Dimensions
• Existence of self-similar solutions to Smoluchowski's coagulation equation
• Mathematics of cell motility: Have we got its number?
• Cluster-cluster aggregation as an analogue of a turbulent cascade: Kolmogorov phenomenology, scaling laws and the breakdown of self-similarity.
• Absorption of a randomly accelerated particle: gambler's ruin in a different game
• The Smoluchowski coagulation equations with continuous injection

Cited In (3)

• Dynamics of \textit{in vitro} intermediate filament length distributions
• Optimal orientation in branched cytoskeletal networks
• Simulation of lamellipodial fragments

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