A model system that can interpret the role of cross-linking
proteins
A new model system of the cellular skeletons of living cells
is akin to a mini-laboratory designed to explore how the cells’ functional
structures assemble. A paper about to be published in EPJ E by physicist Volker
Schaller and his colleagues from the Technical University Munich, Germany,
presents one hypothesis concerning self-organisation. It hinges on the findings
that a homogeneous protein network, once subjected to stresses generated by
molecular motors, compacts into highly condensed fibres.