Microscopic origins of anisotropic active stress in motor-driven nematic liquid crystals.

ABSTRACT: The cytoskeleton, despite comprising relatively few building blocks, drives an impressive variety of cellular phenomena ranging from cell division to motility. These building blocks include filaments, motor proteins, and static crosslinkers. Outside of cells, these same components can form novel materials exhibiting active flows and nonequilibrium contraction or extension. While dipolar extensile or contractile active stresses are common in nematic motor-filament systems, their microscopic origin remains unclear. Here we study a minimal physical model of filaments, crosslinking motors, and static crosslinkers to dissect the microscopic mechanisms of stress generation in a two-dimensional system of orientationally aligned rods. We demonstrate the essential role of filament steric interactio

SUBMITTER: Blackwell R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4861323 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature