Thermodynamic Control of Activity Patterns in Cytoskeletal Networks

TL;DR

This paper develops a phenomenological model showing how biasing energy dissipation in actomyosin networks can control the formation of structures like asters and bundles, revealing a fundamental principle for cytoskeletal dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach linking energy dissipation bias to effective motor interactions, enabling control over cytoskeletal pattern formation.

Findings

Biasing energy dissipation renormalizes motor interactions.

Energy bias induces an aster-to-bundle transition.

Relation between biasing parameter and motor rigidity established.

Abstract

We aim to identify the control principles governing the adaptable formation of non-equilibrium structures in actomyosin networks. We build a phenomenological model and predict that biasing the energy dissipated by molecular motors should effectively renormalize the motor-mediated interactions between actin filaments. Indeed, using methods from large deviation theory, we demonstrate that biasing energy dissipation is equivalent to modulating the motor rigidity and results in an aster-to-bundle transition. From the simulation statistics, we extract a relation between the biasing parameter and the corresponding normalized motor rigidity. This work elucidates the relationship between energy dissipation, effective interactions, and pattern formation in active biopolymer networks, providing a control principle of cytoskeletal structure and dynamics.