DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Multiscale polar theory of microtubule and motor-protein assemblies

Abstract

Microtubules and motor proteins are building blocks of self-organized subcellular biological structures such as the mitotic spindle and the centrosomal microtubule array. These same ingredients can form new “bioactive” liquid-crystalline fluids that are intrinsically out of equilibrium and which display complex flows and defect dynamics. It is not yet well understood how microscopic activity, which involves polarity-dependent interactions between motor proteins and microtubules, yields such larger-scale dynamical structures. In our multiscale theory, Brownian dynamics simulations of polar microtubule ensembles driven by cross-linking motors allow us to study microscopic organization and stresses. Polarity sorting and cross-link relaxation emerge as two polar-specific sources of active destabilizing stress. On larger length scales, our continuum Doi-Onsager theory captures the hydrodynamic flows generated by polarity-dependent active stresses. Finally, the results connect local polar structure to flow structures and defect dynamics.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [1]
  1. New York Univ. (NYU), New York, NY (United States)
  2. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
New York Univ. (NYU), NY (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1343759
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1180164
Grant/Contract Number:  
FG02-88ER25053
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 114; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Citation Formats

Gao, Tong, Blackwell, Robert, Glaser, Matthew A., Betterton, Meredith D., and Shelley, Michael J. Multiscale polar theory of microtubule and motor-protein assemblies. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.048101.
Gao, Tong, Blackwell, Robert, Glaser, Matthew A., Betterton, Meredith D., & Shelley, Michael J. Multiscale polar theory of microtubule and motor-protein assemblies. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.048101
Gao, Tong, Blackwell, Robert, Glaser, Matthew A., Betterton, Meredith D., and Shelley, Michael J. Tue . "Multiscale polar theory of microtubule and motor-protein assemblies". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.048101. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1343759.
@article{osti_1343759,
title = {Multiscale polar theory of microtubule and motor-protein assemblies},
author = {Gao, Tong and Blackwell, Robert and Glaser, Matthew A. and Betterton, Meredith D. and Shelley, Michael J.},
abstractNote = {Microtubules and motor proteins are building blocks of self-organized subcellular biological structures such as the mitotic spindle and the centrosomal microtubule array. These same ingredients can form new “bioactive” liquid-crystalline fluids that are intrinsically out of equilibrium and which display complex flows and defect dynamics. It is not yet well understood how microscopic activity, which involves polarity-dependent interactions between motor proteins and microtubules, yields such larger-scale dynamical structures. In our multiscale theory, Brownian dynamics simulations of polar microtubule ensembles driven by cross-linking motors allow us to study microscopic organization and stresses. Polarity sorting and cross-link relaxation emerge as two polar-specific sources of active destabilizing stress. On larger length scales, our continuum Doi-Onsager theory captures the hydrodynamic flows generated by polarity-dependent active stresses. Finally, the results connect local polar structure to flow structures and defect dynamics.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.048101},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 4,
volume = 114,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jan 27 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Tue Jan 27 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}

Journal Article:

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 105 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Nonequilibrium structure and dynamics in a microscopic model of thin-film active gels
journal, March 2014


Instabilities and topological defects in active nematics
journal, January 2014

  • Thampi, Sumesh P.; Golestanian, Ramin; Yeomans, Julia M.
  • EPL (Europhysics Letters), Vol. 105, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/105/18001

Defect Annihilation and Proliferation in Active Nematics
journal, May 2013


Lennard-Jones sticks: A new model for linear molecules
journal, December 2006

  • Vesely, Franz J.
  • The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 125, Issue 21
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.2390706

Spontaneous motion in hierarchically assembled active matter
journal, November 2012

  • Sanchez, Tim; Chen, Daniel T. N.; DeCamp, Stephen J.
  • Nature, Vol. 491, Issue 7424
  • DOI: 10.1038/nature11591

Meso-scale turbulence in living fluids
journal, August 2012

  • Wensink, H. H.; Dunkel, J.; Heidenreich, S.
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 109, Issue 36
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1202032109

The Mechanics and Statistics of Active Matter
journal, August 2010


Polar patterns of driven filaments
journal, September 2010

  • Schaller, Volker; Weber, Christoph; Semmrich, Christine
  • Nature, Vol. 467, Issue 7311
  • DOI: 10.1038/nature09312

Instabilities and nonlinear dynamics of concentrated active suspensions
journal, July 2013

  • Ezhilan, Barath; Shelley, Michael J.; Saintillan, David
  • Physics of Fluids, Vol. 25, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4812822

Kinetic theory and simulations of active polar liquid crystalline polymers
journal, January 2013

  • Forest, M. Gregory; Wang, Qi; Zhou, Ruhai
  • Soft Matter, Vol. 9, Issue 21
  • DOI: 10.1039/c3sm27736d

Force production by single kinesin motors
journal, September 2000

  • Schnitzer, Mark J.; Visscher, Koen; Block, Steven M.
  • Nature Cell Biology, Vol. 2, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1038/35036345

Physical Properties Determining Self-Organization of Motors and Microtubules
journal, May 2001


Brownian dynamics of hard spherocylinders
journal, August 1994


Brownian motion, hydrodynamics, and the osmotic pressure
journal, February 1993

  • Brady, John F.
  • The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 98, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.464105

Critical bacterial concentration for the onset of collective swimming
journal, July 2009


Actively Contracting Bundles of Polar Filaments
journal, August 2000


Single kinesin molecules studied with a molecular force clamp
journal, July 1999

  • Visscher, Koen; Schnitzer, Mark J.; Block, Steven M.
  • Nature, Vol. 400, Issue 6740
  • DOI: 10.1038/22146

Tracing the phase boundaries of hard spherocylinders
journal, January 1997

  • Bolhuis, Peter; Frenkel, Daan
  • The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 106, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.473404

Excitable Patterns in Active Nematics
journal, May 2011


A re‐examination of the phase diagram of hard spherocylinders
journal, May 1996

  • McGrother, Simon C.; Williamson, Dave C.; Jackson, George
  • The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 104, Issue 17
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.471343

Instabilities and Pattern Formation in Active Particle Suspensions: Kinetic Theory and Continuum Simulations
journal, April 2008


Living liquid crystals
journal, January 2014

  • Zhou, S.; Sokolov, A.; Lavrentovich, O. D.
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 111, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1321926111

Cytoplasmic streaming in plant cells emerges naturally by microfilament self-organization
journal, August 2013

  • Woodhouse, F. G.; Goldstein, R. E.
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 110, Issue 35
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1302736110

Nonlinear dynamics and rheology of active fluids: Simulations in two dimensions
journal, April 2011


Polarity Sorting in a Bundle of Actin Filaments by Two-Headed Myosins
journal, August 1996

  • Nakazawa, Hatsumi; Sekimoto, Ken
  • Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, Vol. 65, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1143/JPSJ.65.2404

Polar patterns in active fluids
journal, January 2012

  • Giomi, Luca; Marchetti, M. Cristina
  • Soft Matter, Vol. 8, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1039/c1sm06077e

Self-organization of microtubules and motors
journal, September 1997

  • Ndlec, F. J.; Surrey, T.; Maggs, A. C.
  • Nature, Vol. 389, Issue 6648
  • DOI: 10.1038/38532

Swimmers in Thin Films: From Swarming to Hydrodynamic Instabilities
journal, December 2010


The stress system in a suspension of force-free particles
journal, April 1970


Nonequilibrium steady states in polar active fluids
journal, January 2011

  • Tjhung, Elsen; Cates, Michael E.; Marenduzzo, Davide
  • Soft Matter, Vol. 7, Issue 16
  • DOI: 10.1039/c1sm05396e

Particle-Tracking Microrheology of Living Cells: Principles and Applications
journal, June 2009


The Motion of Ellipsoidal Particles Immersed in a Viscous Fluid
journal, November 1922

  • Jeffery, G. B.
  • Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 102, Issue 715
  • DOI: 10.1098/rspa.1922.0078

Velocity Correlations in an Active Nematic
journal, September 2013


Spontaneous flow transition in active polar gels
journal, May 2005


Numerical study of the phase behavior of rodlike colloids with attractive interactions
journal, August 1997

  • Bolhuis, Peter G.; Stroobants, Alain; Frenkel, Daan
  • The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 107, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.474508

Active nematic materials with substrate friction
journal, December 2014


Bridging the microscopic and the hydrodynamic in active filament solutions
journal, March 2005


Active suspensions and their nonlinear models
journal, June 2013


Brownian dynamics simulations of the self- and collective rotational diffusion coefficients of rigid long thin rods
journal, June 2005

  • Tao, Yu-Guo; den Otter, W. K.; Padding, J. T.
  • The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 122, Issue 24
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.1940031

Statistical hydrodynamics of ordered suspensions of self-propelled particles: waves, giant number fluctuations and instabilities
journal, April 2002


Phase behavior of two-dimensional hard rod fluids
journal, June 2000

  • Bates, Martin A.; Frenkel, Daan
  • The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 112, Issue 22
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.481637

Stability of active suspensions
journal, April 2010


Mobility measurement by analysis of fluorescence photobleaching recovery kinetics
journal, September 1976


A Quantitative Analysis of Contractility in Active Cytoskeletal Protein Networks
journal, April 2008


Eine einfache molekulare Theorie des nematischen kristallinflüssigen Zustandes
journal, July 1958


Living Liquid Crystals
journal, January 2014


Molecular Biology of the Cell
journal, January 1973


Meso-scale turbulence in living fluids
text, January 2012

  • Wensink, Henricus H.; Dunkel, Jörn; Heidenreich, Sebastian
  • National Academy of Sciences
  • DOI: 10.5451/unibas-ep83555

Molecular biology of the cell
journal, October 1983


The Mechanics and Statistics of Active Matter
text, January 2010


Swimmers in thin films: from swarming to hydrodynamic instabilities
text, January 2010


Excitable Patterns in Active Nematics
text, January 2010


Nonlinear dynamics and rheology of active fluids: simulations in two dimensions
text, January 2010


Spontaneous motion in hierarchically assembled active matter
text, January 2013


Velocity Correlations in an Active Nematic
text, January 2013


Defect annihilation and proliferation in active nematics
text, January 2013


Cytoplasmic Streaming in Plant Cells Emerges Naturally by Microfilament Self-Organization
text, January 2013


Non-equilibrium structure and dynamics in a microscopic model of thin film active gels
text, January 2013


Bridging the microscopic and the hydrodynamic in active filament solutions
text, January 2004


Spontaneous flow transition in active polar gels
text, January 2005


Works referencing / citing this record:

Microtubule and microtubule associated protein anomalies in psychiatric disease: MAP Anomalies in Psychiatric Disease
journal, May 2016

  • Marchisella, Francesca; Coffey, Eleanor T.; Hollos, Patrik
  • Cytoskeleton, Vol. 73, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1002/cm.21300

The instability of a sedimenting suspension of weakly flexible fibres
journal, September 2014

  • Manikantan, Harishankar; Li, Lei; Spagnolie, Saverio E.
  • Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 756
  • DOI: 10.1017/jfm.2014.482

Active matter at the interface between materials science and cell biology
journal, July 2017


Kinesin-5-independent mitotic spindle assembly requires the antiparallel microtubule crosslinker Ase1 in fission yeast
journal, May 2017

  • Rincon, Sergio A.; Lamson, Adam; Blackwell, Robert
  • Nature Communications, Vol. 8, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15286

Orientational order of motile defects in active nematics
journal, August 2015

  • DeCamp, Stephen J.; Redner, Gabriel S.; Baskaran, Aparna
  • Nature Materials, Vol. 14, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1038/nmat4387

Selection mechanism at the onset of active turbulence
journal, February 2019

  • Martínez-Prat, Berta; Ignés-Mullol, Jordi; Casademunt, Jaume
  • Nature Physics, Vol. 15, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1038/s41567-018-0411-6

Self-straining of actively crosslinked microtubule networks
journal, September 2019


Lamellar ordering, droplet formation and phase inversion in exotic active emulsions
journal, February 2019


From mechanical resilience to active material properties in biopolymer networks
journal, March 2019


An attraction–repulsion transition of force on wedges induced by active particles
journal, January 2018

  • Hua, Yunfeng; Li, Ke; Zhou, Xiaolin
  • Soft Matter, Vol. 14, Issue 25
  • DOI: 10.1039/c8sm00249e

Morphological transitions of axially-driven microfilaments
journal, January 2019


Self-assembling outside equilibrium: emergence of structures mediated by dissipation
journal, January 2019

  • Arango-Restrepo, A.; Barragán, D.; Rubi, J. M.
  • Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Vol. 21, Issue 32
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9cp01088b

Dry active turbulence in a model for microtubule–motor mixtures
journal, January 2019

  • Maryshev, Ivan; Goryachev, Andrew B.; Marenduzzo, Davide
  • Soft Matter, Vol. 15, Issue 30
  • DOI: 10.1039/c9sm00558g

Shape control and compartmentalization in active colloidal cells
journal, August 2015

  • Spellings, Matthew; Engel, Michael; Klotsa, Daphne
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 112, Issue 34
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1513361112

Control of active liquid crystals with a magnetic field
journal, May 2016

  • Guillamat, Pau; Ignés-Mullol, Jordi; Sagués, Francesc
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 113, Issue 20
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1600339113

Filament rigidity and connectivity tune the deformation modes of active biopolymer networks
journal, November 2017

  • Stam, Samantha; Freedman, Simon L.; Banerjee, Shiladitya
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 114, Issue 47
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1708625114

Extensile motor activity drives coherent motions in a model of interphase chromatin
journal, October 2018

  • Saintillan, David; Shelley, Michael J.; Zidovska, Alexandra
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 115, Issue 45
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1807073115

Data-driven quantitative modeling of bacterial active nematics
journal, December 2018

  • Li, He; Shi, Xia-qing; Huang, Mingji
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 116, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1812570116

Self-organized dynamics and the transition to turbulence of confined active nematics
journal, February 2019

  • Opathalage, Achini; Norton, Michael M.; Juniper, Michael P. N.
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 116, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1816733116

Antipolar ordering of topological defects in active liquid crystals
journal, September 2016


Effects of spatial dimensionality and steric interactions on microtubule-motor self-organization
journal, April 2019


Defect dynamics in active nematics
journal, November 2014

  • Giomi, Luca; Bowick, Mark J.; Mishra, Prashant
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 372, Issue 2029
  • DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2013.0365

Vorticity, defects and correlations in active turbulence
journal, November 2014

  • Thampi, Sumesh P.; Golestanian, Ramin; Yeomans, Julia M.
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 372, Issue 2029
  • DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2013.0366

Tunable dynamics of microtubule-based active isotropic gels
journal, November 2014

  • Henkin, Gil; DeCamp, Stephen J.; Chen, Daniel T. N.
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 372, Issue 2029
  • DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2014.0142

Mechanisms of chromosome biorientation and bipolar spindle assembly analyzed by computational modeling
posted_content, October 2019

  • Edelmaier, Christopher J.; Lamson, Adam R.; Gergely, Zachary R.
  • bioRxiv
  • DOI: 10.1101/649913

Dynamically generated patterns in dense suspensions of active filaments
journal, February 2018


Dynamical patterns in nematic active matter on a sphere
journal, April 2018


Nonequilibrium physics in biology
journal, December 2019


Active micromachines: Microfluidics powered by mesoscale turbulence
journal, July 2016

  • Thampi, Sumesh P.; Doostmohammadi, Amin; Shendruk, Tyler N.
  • Science Advances, Vol. 2, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1501854

Topological structure and dynamics of three-dimensional active nematics
journal, March 2020

  • Duclos, Guillaume; Adkins, Raymond; Banerjee, Debarghya
  • Science, Vol. 367, Issue 6482
  • DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz4547

Generalized Swift-Hohenberg models for dense active suspensions
journal, October 2016

  • Oza, Anand U.; Heidenreich, Sebastian; Dunkel, Jörn
  • The European Physical Journal E, Vol. 39, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1140/epje/i2016-16097-2

Active turbulence in active nematics
journal, July 2016


Chronology of motor-mediated microtubule streaming
journal, January 2019


Extensile motor activity drives coherent motions in a model of interphase chromatin
posted_content, May 2018

  • Saintillan, David; Shelley, Michael J.; Zidovska, Alexandra
  • bioRxiv
  • DOI: 10.1101/319756

Chronology of motor-mediated microtubule streaming
posted_content, December 2018

  • Ravichandran, Arvind; Duman, Özer; Hoore, Masoud
  • eLife
  • DOI: 10.1101/505669

Effects of spatial dimensionality and steric interactions on microtubule-motor self-organization.
text, January 2019

  • Rickman, Jamie; Nédélec, François; Surrey, Thomas
  • Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository
  • DOI: 10.17863/cam.40940

Effects of spatial dimensionality and steric interactions on microtubule-motor self-organization.
text, January 2020


Effects of spatial dimensionality and steric interactions on microtubule-motor self-organization.
text, January 2020


Tunable dynamics of microtubule based active isotropic gels
text, January 2014


Orientational order of motile defects in active nematics
text, January 2015


Instabilities, defects, and defect ordering in an overdamped active nematic
preprint, January 2015


Antipolar ordering of topological defects in active liquid crystals
text, January 2015


Correlation lengths in hydrodynamic models of active nematics
text, January 2016


Analytical structure, dynamics, and coarse-graining of a kinetic model of an active fluid
text, January 2017


Self-organized dynamics and the transition to turbulence of confined active nematics
text, January 2018


Data-driven quantitative modeling of bacterial active nematics
text, January 2020