Kinesin and myosin motors compete to drive rich multiphase dynamics in programmable cytoskeletal composites.

ABSTRACT: The cellular cytoskeleton relies on diverse populations of motors, filaments, and binding proteins acting in concert to enable nonequilibrium processes ranging from mitosis to chemotaxis. The cytoskeleton's versatile reconfigurability, programmed by interactions between its constituents, makes it a foundational active matter platform. However, current active matter endeavors are limited largely to single force-generating components acting on a single substrate-far from the composite cytoskeleton in cells. Here, we engineer actin-microtubule (MT) composites, driven by kinesin and myosin motors and tuned by crosslinkers, to ballistically restructure and flow with speeds that span three orders of magnitude depending on the composite formulation and time relative to the onset of motor activity

SUBMITTER: McGorty RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10416814 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature