2016/09/06 by Brian A. Camley, Yanxiang Zhao, Bo Li +3 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemistry · Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Actin #Anatomy #Biochemistry #Biological system #Biology #Biophysics #Cell #Cell biology #Cellular Mechanics and Interactions #Chemistry #Coupling (piping) #Crawling #Diffusion #Materials science #Mechanics #Mechanism (biology) #Microtubule and mitosis dynamics #Motility #Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation #Physics #Polarity (international relations) #Reaction–diffusion system #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.soft #physics.bio-ph #q-bio.CB
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.95.012401
published as Phys. Rev. E 95, 012401 (2017) · 12 pages, 12 figures
arxiv created 2016/09/06 · openalex publication_date 2017/01/05 · arxiv updated 2017/01/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We study a minimal model of a crawling eukaryotic cell with a chemical polarity controlled by a reaction-diffusion mechanism describing Rho GTPase dynamics. The size, shape, and speed of the cell emerge from the combination of the chemical polarity, which controls the locations where actin polymerization occurs, and the physical properties of the cell, including its membrane tension. We find in our model both highly persistent trajectories, in which the cell crawls in a straight line, and turning trajectories, where the cell transitions from crawling in a line to crawling in a circle. We discuss the controlling variables for this turning instability and argue that turning arises from a coupling between the reaction-diffusion mechanism and the shape of the cell. This emphasizes the surprising features that can arise from simple links between cell mechanics and biochemistry. Our results suggest that similar instabilities may be present in a broad class of biochemical descriptions of cell polarity.