Mathematical modeling of the dynamic mechanical behavior of neighboring sarcomeres in actin stress fibers

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Publication Type pre-print
School or College College of Science
Department Biology
Creator Beckerle, Mary C.
Other Author Chapin, L. M.; Edgar, L.T.; Blankman, E.; Shiu, Y. T.
Title Mathematical modeling of the dynamic mechanical behavior of neighboring sarcomeres in actin stress fibers
Date 2014-01-01
Description Actin stress fibers (SFs) in live cells consist of series of dynamic individual sarcomeric units. Within a group of consecutive SF sarcomeres, individual sarcomeres can spontaneously shorten or lengthen without changing the overall length of this group, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. We used a computational model to test our hypothesis that this dynamic behavior is inherent to the heterogeneous mechanical properties of the sarcomeres and the cytoplasmic viscosity. Each sarcomere was modeled as a discrete element consisting of an elastic spring, a viscous dashpot and an active contractile unit all connected in parallel, and experiences forces as a result of actin filament elastic stiffness, myosin II contractility, internal viscoelasticity, or cytoplasmic drag. When all four types of forces are considered, the simulated dynamic behavior closely resembles the experimental observations, which include a low-frequency fluctuation in individual sarcomere length and compensatory lengthening and shortening of adjacent sarcomeres. Our results suggest that heterogeneous stiffness and viscoelasticity of actin fibers, heterogeneous myosin II contractility, and the cytoplasmic drag are sufficient to cause spontaneous fluctuations in SF sarcomere length. Our results shed new light to the dynamic behavior of SF and help design experiments to further our understanding of SF dynamics.
Type Text
Publisher Springer
Volume 7
Issue 1
First Page 73
Last Page 85
Language eng
Bibliographic Citation Chapin, L. M., Edgar, L. T., Blankman, E., Beckerle, M. C., & Shiu, Y. T. (2014). Mathematical modeling of the dynamic mechanical behavior of neighboring sarcomeres in actin stress fibers. Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, 7(1), 73-85.
Rights Management (c) Springer (The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com)
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 2,314,681 bytes
Identifier uspace,18683
ARK ark:/87278/s6h16b38
Setname ir_uspace
ID 712599
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6h16b38
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