title: Self-organized cell motility from motor-filament interactions.
abstract: Cell motility is driven primarily by the dynamics of the cell cytoskeleton, a system of filamentous proteins and molecular motors. It has been proposed that cell motility is a self-organized process, that is, local short-range interactions determine much of the dynamics that are required for the whole-cell organization that leads to polarization and directional motion. Here we present a mesoscopic mean-field description of filaments, motors, and cell boundaries. This description gives rise to a dynamical system that exhibits multiple self-organized states. We discuss several qualitative aspects of the asymptotic states and compare them with those of living cells.
authors: Physics Department, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. xdu@princeton.edu
authors: XinXin
authors: X
authors: Du
authors: Konstantin
authors: K
authors: Doubrovinski
authors: Miriam
authors: M
authors: Osterfield
mesh_terms: D000205:Actomyosin / Q000378:metabolism; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002465:Cell Movement; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011485:Protein Binding
chemical_list: D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; D000205:Actomyosin