2021/08/02 by Sami C. Al-Izzi, Al-Izzi, Sami C., Nodehi, Sedigheh Ghanbarzadeh +4
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #Cellular Mechanics and Interactions #FOS: Physical sciences #Micro and Nano Robotics #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2108.00764
openalex publication_date 2021/08/02 · openalex created_date 2022/07/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The cytoskeletal component actomyosin is a canonical example of active matter since the powerstroke cycle locally converts chemical energy in the form of adenoside triphosphate (ATP) into mechanical work for remodelling. Observing myosin II minifilaments as they remodel actin \it in vitro, we now report that: at high concentrations of ATP, myosin minifilaments form metastable swirling patterns that are characterised by recurrent vortex and spiral-like motifs, whereas; at low concentrations of ATP, such structures give way to aster-like patterns. To explain this, we construct the (quasi-)steady states of a polar active hydrodynamic theory of actomyosin whose ATP-scaling is obtained from a microscopic, stochastic description for the ATP-dependent binding of the heads of single myosin II minifilaments. The latter codifies the heuristic that, since the powerstroke cycle involves the unbinding of myosin II heads from actin, increases in the concentration of ATP reduce the likelihood that a given myosin II minifilament has more than one head bound simultaneously, reducing its ability to generate contractile forces and increasing the relative likelihood of processive motion. This reproduces several qualitative and some quantitative aspects of experiments, providing evidence for the central phenomenon of the theory: an ATP-dependent active contractile instability. ATP therefore controls not only the rate at which work is done -- i.e., the power -- but also the mode by which this occurs.