Reproducing asymmetrical spine shape fluctuations in a model of actin dynamics predicts self-organized criticality.

ABSTRACT: Dendritic spines change their size and shape spontaneously, but the function of this remains unclear. Here, we address this in a biophysical model of spine fluctuations, which reproduces experimentally measured spine fluctuations. For this, we characterize size- and shape fluctuations from confocal microscopy image sequences using autoregressive models and a new set of shape descriptors derived from circular statistics. Using the biophysical model, we extrapolate into longer temporal intervals and find the presence of 1/f noise. When investigating its origins, the model predicts that the actin dynamics underlying shape fluctuations self-organizes into a critical state, which creates a fine balance between static actin filaments and free monomers. In a comparison against a non-critical mode

SUBMITTER: Bonilla-Quintana M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7889935 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature