Mechanosensitive bonds induced deterministic crawling cell motility patterns

Jen-Yu Lo^1*, Hsuan-Yi Chen¹

¹Depratment of Physics, National Central University, Jhongli, Taiwan

* Presenter:Jen-Yu Lo, email:a44a4422@gmail.com

A theoretical model for the one-dimensional crawling movement of a cell is presented. Numerical simulations of this model show that a cell can be at rest, moving at a constant velocity, performing unidirectional stick-slip movement, periodic back-and-forth motion, and other complex deterministic patterns. A cell with highly mechanosensitive adhesion complexes and sufficiently strong myosin contractility moves back and forth periodically. For a cell with weakly mechanosensitive adhesion complexes, it starts to move at a constant velocity when the myosin contractility is sufficiently strong. Further analysis shows that by focusing on the time evolution of the distribution of mechanosensitive adhesion complexes and myosin density, one can understand the mechanism responsible for these moving states. This is explained by a phenomenological nonlinear dynamics model, as it shows how the interplay between the distribution of contractile force produced by myosin and drag force produced by mechanosensitive adhesion complexes affect the movement behaviors of a cell.

Keywords: Active gel model, one-dimensional cell movement, nonlinear dynamics model, crawling cell motility