Pattern Formation in Active Cytoskeletal Systems
Living cells rely on the self-organization mechanisms of cytoskeleton to adapt to their requirements. In processes such as cell division, or cellular motility rely on the controlled self-assembly and disassembly of well defined active cytoskeletal structures interacting with lipid membranes. One important and promising strategy to identify the underlying governing principles is to quantify the underlying physical processes in model systems mimicking functional units of living cell. Here I’ll present in vitro minimal model systems, which allow the identification of the ordering effects emerging in such collective systems. In a first part I will present recent results of a high density motility essay, how weak local interactions can be sensitively tuned to lead to different symmetries of the pattern forming system. In a second model system consisting of active microtubule and actin filament systems which show pattern formation resulting from topological constraints. I will discuss how a balance of local force exertion and tension generation results in shape transformations, blebbing, invagination or tethering of lipid membranes.