Abstract
Cells set up contractile actin arrays to drive various shape changes and to exert forces to their environment. To understand their assembly process, we present here a reconstituted contractile system, comprising F-actin and myosin II filaments, where we can control the local activation of myosin by light. By stimulating different symmetries, we show that the force balancing at the boundaries determine the shape changes as well as the dynamics of the global contraction. Spatially anisotropic attachment of initially isotropic networks leads to a self-organization of highly aligned contractile fibres, being reminiscent of the order formation in muscles or stress fibres. The observed shape changes and dynamics are fully recovered by a minimal physical model.
Highlights
Cells set up contractile actin arrays to drive various shape changes and to exert forces to their environment
By independently tuning the activity and the shape of active gels by light, we show that the force balance at the boundaries is responsible for the observed shape transformations and their dynamics
Anisotropic attachment of the network leads to the formation of highly aligned contractile fibres, reminiscent of contractile modules found in cells
Summary
Cells set up contractile actin arrays to drive various shape changes and to exert forces to their environment. For any geometry/distribution of activated and strong springs the observed shape changes can be retrieved with this static spring network model, and the results are independent of the simulation cell size in the thermodynamic limit.
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