Self-assembled active actomyosin gels spontaneously curve and wrinkle similar to biological cells and tissues.

ABSTRACT: Living systems adopt a diversity of curved and highly dynamic shapes. These diverse morphologies appear on many length scales, from cells to tissues and organismal scales. The common driving force for these dynamic shape changes are contractile stresses generated by myosin motors in the cell cytoskeleton, that converts chemical energy into mechanical work. A good understanding of how contractile stresses in the cytoskeleton arise into different three-dimensional (3D) shapes and what are the shape selection rules that determine their final configurations is still lacking. To obtain insight into the relevant physical mechanisms, we recreate the actomyosin cytoskeleton in vitro, with precisely controlled composition and initial geometry. A set of actomyosin gel discs, intrinsically identical

SUBMITTER: Livne G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10786314 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature