Determinants of fluidlike behavior and effective viscosity in cross-linked actin networks.

ABSTRACT: The actin cortex has a well-documented ability to rapidly remodel and flow while maintaining long-range connectivity, but how this is achieved remains poorly understood. Here, we use computer simulations to explore how stress relaxation in cross-linked actin networks subjected to extensional stress depends on the interplay between network architecture and turnover. We characterize a regime in which a network response is nonaffine and stress relaxation is governed by the continuous dissipation of elastic energy via cyclic formation, elongation, and turnover of tension-bearing elements. Within this regime, for a wide range of network parameters, we observe a constant deformation (creep) rate that is linearly proportional to the rate of filament turnover, leading to a constant effective visco

SUBMITTER: Kim T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3944977 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature