Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2
pubmed:dateCreated
1996-10-21
pubmed:abstractText
Single actin filaments were analyzed in solutions ranging from dilute (0.2 microgram/ml), where filaments interact only with solvent, to concentrations (4.0 mg/ml) at which F-actin forms a nematic phase. A persistence length of approximately 1.8 microns and an average length of approximately 22 microns (Kaufmann et al., 1992) identify actin as a model for studying the dynamics of semiflexible polymers. In dilute solutions the filaments exhibit thermal bending undulations in addition to diffusive motion. At higher semidilute concentrations (1.4 mg/ml) three-dimensional reconstructions of confocal images of fluorescently labeled filaments in a matrix of unlabeled F-actin reveal steric interactions between filaments, which account for the viscoelastic behavior of these solutions. The restricted undulations of these labeled chains reveal the virtual tube formed around a filament by the surrounding actin. The average tube diameter <a> scales with monomer concentration c as <a> varies; is directly proportional to c-(0.5 +/- 0.15). The diffusion of filaments in semidilute solutions (c = (0.1-2.0) mg/ml) is dominated by diffusion along the filament contour (reptation), and constraint release by remodeling of the surrounding filaments is rare. The self-diffusion coefficient D parallel along the tube decreases linearly with the chain length for semidilute solutions. For concentrations > 2.5 mg/ml a transition occurs from an isotropic entangled phase to a coexistence between isotropic and nematic domains. Analysis of the molecular motions of filaments suggests that the filaments in the aligned domains are in thermal equilibrium and that the diffusion coefficient parallel to the director D parallel is nearly independent of filament length. We also report the novel direct observation of u-shaped defects, called hairpins, in the nematic domains.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:commentsCorrections
http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-1330036, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-1439819, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-1459252, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-1501715, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-1830130, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-1918159, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-2007620, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-2015387, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-3013849, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-3293593, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-7798252, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-8112218, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-8120062, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-8145821, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-8171335, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-8241121, http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/commentcorrection/8789080-8493552
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Feb
pubmed:issn
0006-3495
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
70
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
609-25
pubmed:dateRevised
2010-9-10
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1996
pubmed:articleTitle
F-actin, a model polymer for semiflexible chains in dilute, semidilute, and liquid crystalline solutions.
pubmed:affiliation
Division of Experimental Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. kas@calvin.bwh.harvard.edu
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, In Vitro, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S., Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't