Design Principles of Length Control of Cytoskeletal Structures

Abstract

Cells contain elaborate and interconnected networks of protein polymers which make up the cytoskeleton. The cytoskeleton governs the internal positioning and movement of vesicles and organelles, and controls dynamic changes in cell polarity, shape and movement. Many of these processes require tight control of the size and shape of cytoskeletal structures, which is achieved despite rapid turnover of their molecular components. Here we review mechanisms by which cells control the size of filamentous cytoskeletal structures from the point of view of simple quantitative models that take into account stochastic dynamics of their assembly and disassembly. Significantly, these models make experimentally testable predictions that distinguish different mechanisms of length-control. While the primary focus of this review is on cytoskeletal structures, we believe that the broader principles and mechanisms discussed herein will apply to a range of other subcellular structures whose sizes are tightly controlled and are linked to their functions.

arXiv comment61 pages, 11 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Microtubule Length-Regulation by Molecular Motors
• Antenna mechanism of length control of actin cables
• Biophysics of filament length regulation by molecular motors
• Molecular Mechanisms for Microtubule Length Regulation by Kinesin-8 and XMAP215 Proteins

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• Flagellar length control in biflagellate eukaryotes: time-of-flight, shared pool, train traffic and cooperative phenomena
• Level crossing statistics in a biologically motivated model of a long dynamic protrusion: passage times, random and extreme excursions
• Self-organized system-size oscillation of a stochastic lattice-gas model
• The sound of an axon's growth
• Active regeneration unites high- and low-temperature features in cooperative self-assembly
• Stress relaxation in F-actin solutions by severing
• A theory for coexistence and selection of branched actin networks in a shared and finite pool of monomers