Elastohydrodynamic study of actin filaments using fluorescence microscopy
D. Riveline (Institut Curie), Chris H. Wiggins (Princeton), A. Ott, (Institut Curie), and Raymond E. Goldstein (Arizona)
TL;DR
This study investigates the bending behavior of actin filaments under external forces using fluorescence microscopy, confirming theoretical predictions and measuring their persistence length.
Contribution
It provides an experimental validation of semiflexible polymer theory for actin filaments and measures their persistence length using optical tweezers and fluorescence imaging.
Findings
Actin filament shapes match semiflexible polymer theory.
Persistence length of actin filaments is approximately 7.4 μm.
External forcing causes predictable bending behavior.
Abstract
We probed the bending of actin subject to external forcing and viscous drag. Single actin filaments were moved perpendicular to their long axis in an oscillatory way by means of an optically tweezed latex bead attached to one end of the filaments. Shapes of these polymers were observed by epifluorescence microscopy. They were found to be in agreement with predictions of semiflexible polymer theory and slender-body hydrodynamics. A persistence length of m could be extracted.
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