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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 29: Posters: Biopolymers \& Biomaterials
BP 29.15: Poster
Donnerstag, 17. März 2011, 17:15–20:00, P3
Rule of mixing in composite cytoskeletal networks — •C. Heussinger1, E.M. Huisman2, C. Storm3, and G.T. Barkema2,4 — 1Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Goettingen, Germany — 2Instituut Lorentz, Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands — 3Department of Applied Physics and Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands — 4Institute for Theoretical Physics, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
The basic design of most structural biological materials is that of a composite meshwork of different semiflexible protein polymers. The cell cytoskeleton, built up from microtubules, actin filaments and intermediate filaments, is just one striking example of such a filamentous composite. Here we study the mechanical properties of a model two-component system that consists of two types of filaments with different bending stiffnesses. Combining theory with network MC-simulations we can reveal a non-trivial relationship between the mechanical behavior of the network, the stiffness contrast between the filaments and the relative fraction of stiff polymer: when there are few stiff polymers, non-percolated stiff "inclusions" are protected from large deformations by an encompassing floppy matrix, while at higher fractions of stiff material the stiff network is independently percolated and dominates the mechanical response.