Collective Dynamics of-, on- and around Filaments in Living Cells: Motors, MAPs, TIPs and Tracks

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Collection Number11165
Collection TypeDiscussion Meeting
Source RepositoryICTS-TIFR
Description

Our knowledge of cytoskeletal filaments, nucleic acid filaments (DNA and RNA) as well as their associated proteins is constantly expanding due to application of a range of recent biophysical techniques which has helped scientists to probe biophysical phenomena at molecular, cellular and tissue levels. Cytoskeletal filaments, particularly microtubules (MT) and filamentous actin (F-actin), not only provide mechanical strength to an eukaryotic cell but also form a fibrous network that serves at the network of tracks for transporation system of the cell. The dynamics of these filaments and the mechanisms of force generation by polymerization/depolymerization have been investigated experimentally as well as theoretically at multiple scales. Nucleic acid strands (DNA/RNA) are more flexible filaments. The hierarchical organization and dynamics of both cytoskeletal and nucleic acid filaments depend crucially on the proteins bound to these filaments.Cytoskeletal motor proteins utilize the respe...