Reaction front propagation of actin polymerization in a comb-reaction system

Abstract

We develop a theoretical model of anomalous transport with polymerization-reaction dynamics. We are motivated by the experimental problem of actin polymerization occurring in a microfluidic device with a comb-like geometry. Depending on the concentration of reagents, two limiting regimes for the propagation of reaction are recovered: the failure of the reaction front propagation and a finite speed of the reaction front corresponding to the Fisher-Kolmogorov-Petrovskii-Piscounov (FKPP) at the long time asymptotic regime. To predict the relevance of these regimes we obtain an explicit expression for the transient time as a function of geometry and parameters of the experimental setup. Explicit analytical expressions of the reaction front velocity are obtained as functions of the experimental setup.