Toward a Computational Model of Actin Filament Networks

Andrew Schumann

2016

Abstract

Actin is one of the most important proteins responsible for a reaction of cells to external stimuli (stresses). There are monomeric actin or G-actin and polimeric actin or F-actin. Monomers of G-actin are connected into double helical filaments of F-actin by the processes of nucleation, polymerization, and depolymerization. Filaments are of 7-8 nm in diameter. They are of several microns in length. Furthermore, filaments can be organized as complex networks of different forms: unstable bunches (parallel unbranched filaments), trees (branched filaments), stable bunches (cross-linked filaments). Actin filament networks can be considered a natural computational model of cells to perform different responses to different external stimuli. So, in this model we have inputs as different stresses and outputs as formations and destructions of filaments, on the one hand, and as assemblies and disassemblies of actin filament networks, on the other hand. Hence, under different external conditions we observe dynamic changes in the length of actin filaments and in the outlook of filament networks. As we see, the main difference of actin filament networks from others including neural networks is that the topology of actin filament networks changes in responses to dynamics of external stimuli. For instance, a neural network is a sorted triple (N,V,w), where N is the set of neurons/processors, V is a set of connections among neurons/processors, and w is a weight for each connection. In the case of actin filament networks we deal with a variability of filaments/processors. Some new filaments/processors can appear in one conditions and they can disappear in other conditions. The same situation when the computational substratum changes during the time of computations is faced in the so-called swarm computing, e.g. in slime mould computing. In this paper we propose a swarm computing on the medium of actin filament networks.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Schumann A. (2016). Toward a Computational Model of Actin Filament Networks . In Proceedings of the 9th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 4: BIOSIGNALS, (BIOSTEC 2016) ISBN 978-989-758-170-0, pages 290-297. DOI: 10.5220/0005828902900297

in Bibtex Style

@conference{biosignals16,
author={Andrew Schumann},
title={Toward a Computational Model of Actin Filament Networks},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 9th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 4: BIOSIGNALS, (BIOSTEC 2016)},
year={2016},
pages={290-297},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0005828902900297},
isbn={978-989-758-170-0},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 9th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 4: BIOSIGNALS, (BIOSTEC 2016)
TI - Toward a Computational Model of Actin Filament Networks
SN - 978-989-758-170-0
AU - Schumann A.
PY - 2016
SP - 290
EP - 297
DO - 10.5220/0005828902900297