Kinesin-Driven De-Mixing of Cytoskeleton Composites Drives Emergent Mechanical Properties.

ABSTRACT: The cytoskeleton is an active composite of filamentous proteins that dictates diverse mechanical properties and processes in eukaryotic cells by generating forces and autonomously restructuring itself. Enzymatic motors that act on the comprising filaments play key roles in this activity, driving spatiotemporally heterogeneous mechanical responses that are critical to cellular multifunctionality, but also render mechanical characterization challenging. Here, we couple optical tweezers microrheology and fluorescence microscopy with simulations and mathematical modeling to robustly characterize the mechanics of active composites of actin filaments and microtubules restructured by kinesin motors. It is discovered that composites exhibit a rich ensemble of force response behaviors-elastic, yiel

SUBMITTER: Sheung J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12272537 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature