The activity of motors along with passive crosslinkers play a vital role in maintaining the integrity of the mitotic spindle structure and in generating spontaneous oscillations. While the structural features and properties of the individual motors are well characterized, their implications on the functional behaviour of motor-microtubule complexes is more involved. We show that the catchbond behaviour of individual dynein motors manifests as a generic mechanism of generating spontaneous oscillations in such complexes. The results reported here elucidate the central role of catchbond mediated mechanism in fashioning a distinctive stability behaviour and oscillations in motor-microtubule complexes , such as mitotic spindles .
Generation of mechanical oscillation is ubiquitous to wide variety of intracellular processes. We show that catchbonding behaviour of motor proteins provides a generic mechanism of generating spontaneous oscillations in motor-cytoskeletal filament complexes. We obtain the phase diagram to characterize how this novel catch bond mediated mechanism can give rise to bistability and sustained limit cycle oscillations and results in very distinctive stability behaviour , including bistable and non-linearly stabilised in motor-microtubule complexes in biologically relevant regimes. Hitherto, it was thought that the primary functional role of the biological catchbond was to improve surface adhesion of bacteria and cell when subjected to external forces or flow field. Instead our theoretical study shows that the imprint of this catch bond mediated physical mechanism would have ramifications for whole gamut of intracellular processes ranging from oscillations in mitotic spindle oscillations to activity in muscle fibres .
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The activity of motors along with passive crosslinkers play a vital role in maintaining the integrity of the mitotic spindle structure and in generating spontaneous oscillations. While the structural features and properties of the individual motors are well characterized, their implications on the functional behaviour of motor-microtubule complexes is more involved.
Generation of mechanical oscillation is ubiquitous to wide variety of intracellular processes.
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the catchbond behaviour of individual dynein motors manifests as
catchbonding behaviour of motor proteins provides
R
such complexes. The results reported here elucidate the central role of catchbond mediated mechanism in fashioning a
motor-cytoskeletal filament complexes. We obtain the phase diagram to characterize how this novel catch bond mediated mechanism can give rise to bistability and sustained limit cycle oscillations and results in very
R
and oscillations
, including bistable and non-linearly stabilised
R
, such as mitotic spindles
in biologically relevant regimes. Hitherto, it was thought that the primary functional role of the biological catchbond was to improve surface adhesion of bacteria and cell when subjected to external forces or flow field. Instead our theoretical study shows that the imprint of this catch bond mediated physical mechanism would have ramifications for whole gamut of intracellular processes ranging from oscillations in mitotic spindle oscillations to activity in muscle fibres