Bursts of Active Transport in Living Cells

TL;DR

This paper investigates the intermittent bursting behavior of active cargo transport in living cells, revealing scaling laws and stress dynamics similar to physical systems like colloids and granular materials.

Contribution

It uncovers the nonlinear, burst-like fluctuations in cellular transport and links these to stress buildup and release, extending understanding of molecular crowding effects.

Findings

Transport bursts follow a power-law scaling over time and space.

The statistical shape indicates stress accumulation and rapid release.

Scaling laws are similar to those in physical jammed systems.

Abstract

We scrutinize the temporally-resolved speed of active cargo transport in living cells, and show intermittent bursting motions. These nonlinear fluctuations follow a scaling law over several decades of time and space, the statistical regularities displaying a time-averaged shape that we interpret to reflect stress buildup followed by rapid release. The power law of scaling is the same as seen in driven jammed colloids, granular, and magnetic systems. The implied regulation of active transport with environmental obstruction extends the classical notion of molecular crowding.