Subtle changes in crosslinking drive diverse anomalous transport characteristics in actin–microtubule networks

Anderson, Sylas; Garamella, Jonathan; Adalbert, Serenity; McGorty, Ryan; Robertson‐Anderson, Rae M.

doi:10.1039/d1sm00093d

Cited by 12 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 99 publications

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“…is the nonergodicity factor 32 . This form of the ISF has been used in previous studies of non-ergodic dynamics, such as that of colloidal gels 32 , 74 or tracer particles in actinmicrotubule networks 10 . The dotted black lines in Figure 4 show the fits along with the data.…”

Section: Representative Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying Cytoskeleton Dynamics Using Differential Dynamic Microscopy

Verwei

Lee

Leech

et al. 2022

JoVE

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Cells can crawl, self-heal, and tune their stiffness due to their remarkably dynamic cytoskeleton. As such, reconstituting networks of cytoskeletal biopolymers may lead to a host of active and adaptable materials. However, engineering such materials with precisely tuned properties requires measuring how the dynamics depend on the network composition and synthesis methods. Quantifying such dynamics is challenged by variations across the time, space, and formulation space of composite networks. The protocol here describes how the Fourier analysis technique, differential dynamic microscopy (DDM), can quantify the dynamics of biopolymer networks and is particularly well suited for studies of cytoskeleton networks. DDM works on time sequences of images acquired using a range of microscopy modalities, including laserscanning confocal, widefield fluorescence, and brightfield imaging. From such image sequences, one can extract characteristic decorrelation times of density fluctuations across a span of wave vectors. A user-friendly, open-source Python package to perform DDM analysis is also developed. With this package, one can measure the dynamics of labeled cytoskeleton components or of embedded tracer particles, as demonstrated here with data of intermediate filament (vimentin) networks and active actin-microtubule networks. Users with no prior programming or image processing experience will be able to perform DDM using this software package and associated documentation.

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Section: Representative Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying Cytoskeleton Dynamics Using Differential Dynamic Microscopy

Verwei

Lee

Leech

et al. 2022

JoVE

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“…1c ). We have previously established and validated the use of DDM for characterizing both passive and active transport of DNA and other biopolymers in crowded and entangled environments 22 , 23 , 33 , 40 , 41 , 67 , 68 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dilute and isotropic thermal systems undergoing diffusive (Brownian) motion exhibit scaling 9 , 71 . However, superdiffusive or ballistic-like motion, as seen in actively driven systems, often manifest 72 – 74 , and subdiffusive dynamics that crowded and heterogeneous systems exhibit are typically better fit to 23 , 25 , 68 , 71 , 75 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, this dependence, strongest for 0.65:0, is weakest for the 0.5:6.4 composite, suggesting that microtubules suppress both quiescent subdiffusion as well as strain-induced alignment and flow. To understand this effect, we look to previous studies of actin-microtubule composites which report that rigid confinement from stiff microtubules leads to less deviation from normal diffusion of tracer particles, compared to confinement by more flexible actin filaments in which pronounced subdiffusion arises from slow rearrangement of the actin entanglements 22 , 23 , 40 , 68 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For an isotropic system of freely diffusing particles, for all values 9 , 71 . However, the ISFs of confined systems are often better described by a stretched exponential function with < 1 23 , 25 , 68 , 71 , 75 , while compressed exponentials with 1 72 – 74 often better fit the ISFs of systems undergoing active transport. Within this framework, we expect to observe near the strain (small ) where the DNA is undergoing active deformation, stretching and flow; whereas far from the strain, where quiescent thermal motion should dominate the dynamics, we expect .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optical-Tweezers-integrating-Differential-Dynamic-Microscopy maps the spatiotemporal propagation of nonlinear strains in polymer blends and composites

et al. 2022

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How local stresses propagate through polymeric fluids, and, more generally, how macromolecular dynamics give rise to viscoelasticity are open questions vital to wide-ranging scientific and industrial fields. Here, to unambiguously connect polymer dynamics to force response, and map the deformation fields that arise in macromolecular materials, we present Optical-Tweezers-integrating-Differential -Dynamic-Microscopy (OpTiDMM) that simultaneously imposes local strains, measures resistive forces, and analyzes the motion of the surrounding polymers. Our measurements with blends of ring and linear polymers (DNA) and their composites with stiff polymers (microtubules) uncover an unexpected resonant response, in which strain alignment, superdiffusivity, and elasticity are maximized when the strain rate is comparable to the entanglement rate. Microtubules suppress this resonance, while substantially increasing elastic storage, due to varying degrees to which the polymers buildup, stretch and flow along the strain path, and configurationally relax induced stress. More broadly, the rich multi-scale coupling of mechanics and dynamics afforded by OpTiDDM, empowers its interdisciplinary use to elucidate non-trivial phenomena that sculpt stress propagation dynamics–critical to commercial applications and cell mechanics alike.

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Topological DNA blends exhibit resonant deformation fields and strain propagation dynamics tuned by steric constraints

Peddireddy,

McGorty,

Robertson-Anderson

2024

Acta Biomaterialia

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Subtle changes in crosslinking drive diverse anomalous transport characteristics in actin–microtubule networks

Abstract: Anomalous diffusion in crowded and complex environments is widely studied due to its importance in intracellular transport, fluid rheology and materials engineering. Specifically, diffusion through the cytoskeleton, a network comprised...

Cited by 12 publications

References 99 publications

Quantifying Cytoskeleton Dynamics Using Differential Dynamic Microscopy

Quantifying Cytoskeleton Dynamics Using Differential Dynamic Microscopy

Optical-Tweezers-integrating-Differential-Dynamic-Microscopy maps the spatiotemporal propagation of nonlinear strains in polymer blends and composites

Topological DNA blends exhibit resonant deformation fields and strain propagation dynamics tuned by steric constraints

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