Direct observation of the tube model in F-actin solutions

Abstract

Mutual uncrossability of polymers generates topological constraints on their conformations and dynamics, which are generally described using the tube model. We imaged confinement tubes for individual polymers within a F-actin solution by sampling over many successive micrographs of fluorescently labeled probe filaments. The resulting average tube width shows the predicted scaling behavior. Unexpectedly, we found an exponential distribution of tube curvatures which is attributed to transient entropic trapping in network void spaces.