COLLECTIVE OSCILLATIONS OF PROCESSIVEMOLECULAR MOTORS

摘要

We present both a theoretical and an experimental study of the long time behaviorof membrane nanotubes pulled from giant unilamellar vesicles by molecular motors.Experimentally, two types of behaviors are observed, either tubes stall at a finite lengthor they undergo periodic oscillations. Theoretically we write the equations for the tubedynamics as a two-dimensional dynamical system where the variables are the tube length(or the force required to pull the tube at a given length) and the number of motors at thetip pulling the tube. We construct stability diagrams showing the stalling and oscillatingstates and present an example of oscillations in a non-linear regime. These results canexplain the membrane tube retractions and oscillations observed in living cells.