Boundary-induced orientation of dynamic filament networks and vesicle agglomerations

Abstract

We find a statistical mechanism that can adjust orientations of intracellular filaments to cell geometry in absence of organizing centers. The effect is based on random and isotropic filament (de-)polymerization dynamics and is independent of filament interactions and explicit regulation. It can be understood by an analogy to electrostatics and appears to be induced by the confining boundaries; for periodic boundary conditions no orientational bias emerges. Including active transport of particles, the model reproduces experimental observations of vesicle accumulations in transected axons.