Theory of motor proteins that change the length of filaments

Note: Pizza served at 11:45 AM
Speaker: Meredith Betterton, University of Colorado

When: January 28, 2011 (Fri), 12:00PM to 01:00PM (add to my calendar)
Location: SCI 352
Hosted by: Sidney Redner

This event is part of the Biophysics/Condensed Matter Seminar Series.

Abstract:
In cells, motor proteins can walk with directional bias along filaments; in some cases, the motors can also do something to the end of the filament that lengthens or shortens the filament. This talk considers the theory of this problem, based on a few simple
ingredients: motors bind to/unbind from a one-dimensional track, move along the track, and promote changes in track length at its end. I’ll discuss the physics that arises in this problem without assuming background in biology. Crowding effects can be important when multiple motors interact on the same track, and the coupled dynamics of the motors and track can show interesting new effects. Under the right conditions, coupled motor motion and filament shortening can act as a filament length sensor. In addition, the filament may have its own length-changing dynamics which can be altered by the motors. I’ll discuss biological applications of this model, particularly microtubule shortening by kinesin-8 proteins in mitotsis and the control of antiparallel microtubule overlaps by PCR1 and Xklp1 in anaphase.