title: An in vivo intermediate filament assembly model.
abstract: A model is developed to study the in vivo intermediate filament organization in terms of repartition between four different structural states: soluble proteins, particles, short, and long filaments. An analysis is conducted, showing that the system has a unique, globally asymptotically stable equilibrium. By means of sensitivity analysis, the influence of parameters on the system is studied. It is shown that, in agreement with biological observations, posttranslational modifications of intermediate filament proteins resulting in filament solubilization are the main regulators of the intermediate filament organization. A high signalling-dependent solubilization of filaments favours the intermediate filament aggregation in particles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada. portets@cc.umanitoba.ca
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Portet
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Arino
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins