Hierarchical multiscale model for biomechanics analysis of microfilament networks

T Li and YT Gu and XQ Feng and PKDV Yarlagadda and A Oloyede, JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, 113, 194701 (2013).

DOI: 10.1063/1.4805029

The mechanisms of force generation and transference via microfilament networks are crucial to the understandings of mechanobiology of cellular processes in living cells. However, there exists an enormous challenge for all-atom physics simulation of real size microfilament networks due to scale limitation of molecular simulation techniques. Following biophysical investigations of constitutive relations between adjacent globular actin monomers on filamentous actin, a hierarchical multiscale model was developed to investigate the biomechanical properties of microfilament networks. This model was validated by previous experimental studies of axial tension and transverse vibration of single F-actin. The biomechanics of microfilament networks can be investigated at the scale of real eukaryotic cell size (10 mu m). This multiscale approach provides a powerful modeling tool which can contribute to the understandings of actin-related cellular processes in living cells. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.

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