Mechanical behaviors of actin-microtubule composite network: a coarse- grained Langevin dynamics study

ZW Wang and LR Yuan and W Xu and B Gong and J Qian, ACTA MECHANICA SINICA, 42, 624674 (2025).

DOI: 10.1007/s10409-024-24674-x

Although significant advancements have been made in understanding the physics of cytoskeletal substructures, the research on structural interactions and cross-talk between actin filaments, microtubules, and intermediate filaments is still in its infancy. Here, we report a coarse-grained hierarchical computational model based on the Langevin dynamics method to investigate the mechanical response of the composite actin-microtubule networks. It was found that strain stiffening occurred in all three types of networks: actin network, microtubule network, and actin-microtubule composite network with increasing shear deformation. We also found that the mechanical response of the actin-microtubule composite network is not a linear superposition of the actin and microtubule networks, but is synergistically regulated by spatial interactions to make the composite network exhibit rich mechanical properties. Load distribution within the actin-microtubule composite network was found to be controlled by the stiffness of the cross- linkers. We also examined the nonaffine deformation degree of the actin- microtubule composite network and its components. This work will contribute fresh sights for the advancement of biomimetic materials.

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