Dynamics and length distribution of microtubules under force and confinement

Abstract

We investigate the microtubule polymerization dynamics with catastrophe and rescue events for three different confinement scenarios, which mimic typical cellular environments: (i) The microtubule is confined by rigid and fixed walls, (ii) it grows under constant force, and (iii) it grows against an elastic obstacle with a linearly increasing force. We use realistic catastrophe models and analyze the microtubule dynamics, the resulting microtubule length distributions, and force generation by stochastic and mean field calculations; in addition, we perform stochastic simulations. We also investigate the force dynamics if growth parameters are perturbed in dilution experiments. Finally, we show the robustness of our results against changes of catastrophe models and load distribution factors.