title: Computational model for cell morphodynamics.
abstract: We develop a computational model, based on the phase-field method, for cell morphodynamics and apply it to fish keratocytes. Our model incorporates the membrane bending force and the surface tension and enforces a constant area. Furthermore, it implements a cross-linked actin filament field and an actin bundle field that are responsible for the protrusion and retraction forces, respectively. We show that our model predicts steady state cell shapes with a wide range of aspect ratios, depending on system parameters. Furthermore, we find that the dependence of the cell speed on this aspect ratio matches experimentally observed data.
authors.affiliation: Center for Theoretical Biological Physics and Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0374, USA.
authors.forename: Danying
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Wouter-Jan
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Rappel
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Levine
mesh_terms: D048430:Cell Shape; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008954:Models, Biological