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Branching, Capping, and Severing in Dynamic Actin Structures

Ajay Gopinathan·Kun-Chun Lee·J. M. Schwarz·Andrea J. Liu
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Abstract

Branched actin networks at the leading edge of a crawling cell evolve via protein-regulated processes such as polymerization, depolymerization, capping, branching, and severing. A formulation of these processes is presented and analyzed to study steady-state network morphology. In bulk, we identify several scaling regimes in severing and branching protein concentrations and find that the coupling between severing and branching is optimally exploited for conditions {\it in vivo}. Near the leading edge, we find qualitative agreement with the {\it in vivo} morphology.

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Ajay Gopinathan, Kun-Chun Lee, J. M. Schwarz, Andrea J. Liu. 2007-03-15. Branching, Capping, and Severing in Dynamic Actin Structures. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.99.058103

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