Self-Assembly of Artificial Actin Filaments

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dc.contributor.authorCheng, Shengfengen
dc.contributor.authorGrosenick, C. Ryanen
dc.contributor.authorDayal, Shreyaen
dc.date.accessioned2018-08-08T16:29:44Zen
dc.date.available2018-08-08T16:29:44Zen
dc.date.issued2018en
dc.description.abstractActin filaments (F-actins) are long, double-stranded, helical biopolymers that make up the cytoskeleton along with microtubules and intermediate filaments. In order to better understand the self-assembly process of actin filaments, a coarse-grained model to recreate their geometry was developed, which was motivated by the wedge model of microtubule self-assembly. The model monomer has the shape of a bent, twisted rod with binding sites on its lateral and top/bottom surfaces. The longitudinal binding through the binding sites on the top/bottom surfaces of the rod allows the formation of strands, while the lateral binding between the rods enables the strands to adhere laterally to form double-stranded helical filaments. Such a design captures the assembly behavior of G-actins into F-actins. With molecular dynamics simulations, we explored the self-assembly of these bent-rod monomers. A variety of assembled phases were observed when the strengths of the binding interactions between monomers were varied. Our simulations indicate that only a narrow range of binding strengths yields double-stranded helical filaments resembling F-actins. Furthermore, the structure of the assembled filaments is much more robust and resistant to fluctuations and defects when the strength of the longitudinal binding interaction is stronger than that of the lateral binding between monomers. Finally, double-stranded filaments are found to be much more stable structurally than single-stranded ones. Our results reveal fresh insights into the fact that actin filaments are predominantly double-stranded.en
dc.description.sponsorshipJeffress Trust Awards Program in Interdisciplinary Researchen
dc.description.sponsorshipNVIDIA Corporationen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentationen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/84518en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United Statesen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/en
dc.subjectActin Filamentsen
dc.subjectF-actinsen
dc.subjectBiopolymersen
dc.subjectSelf-assemblyen
dc.subjectDouble stranded filamentsen
dc.subjectDouble strandeden
dc.subjectBio-physicsen
dc.subjectMonomersen
dc.subjectLAMMPSen
dc.subjectComputational modelingen
dc.subjectMicrotubublesen
dc.subjectSimulationsen
dc.subjectBiologyen
dc.subjectBent rod monomeren
dc.subjectCoarse grained modelen
dc.subjectLateral binding siteen
dc.subjectVertical binding siteen
dc.subjectG-actinsen
dc.titleSelf-Assembly of Artificial Actin Filamentsen
dc.typePosteren
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

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