Abstract

Co-authors: Hans Othmer (University of Minnesota), Yougan Cheng (University of Minnesota)

Actin filaments play an important role in many cellular processes, including cell motility. We present a stochastic model of actin filament dynamics in a three-dimensional Cartesian domain. Actin monomers bind to nucleation sites on the membrane and polymerize to form filaments (F-actin). F-actin polymers interact with membrane-bound nucleation promoting factors via a positive feedback loop. The resulting model produces waves of actin filaments that propagate along the membrane. Simulating polymer growth presents challenges to traditional Gillespie-type simulations. We describe a rule-based simulation approach to handle the many states of actin filament growth. Finally, we discuss techniques for managing the simulation output data.