The Dynamics of Microtubule/Motor-Protein Assemblies in Biology and Physics

Many important processes in the cell are mediated by stiff microtubule polymers and the activemotor proteinsmoving on them.This includes the transport of subcellular structures (nuclei, chromosomes, organelles) and the selfassembly and positioning of the mitotic spindle. Little is understood of these processes, but they present fascinating problems in fluid-structure interactions. Microtubules and motor proteins are also the building blocks of new biosynthetic active suspensions driven by motor-protein activity. These reduced systems can be probed—and modeled—more easily than can the fully biological ones and demonstrate their own aspects of self-assembly and complex dynamics. I review recent workmodeling such systems as fluid-structure interaction problems and as multiscale complex fluids. 487 Click here to view this article's online features: • Download figures as PPT slides • Navigate linked references • Download citations • Explore related articles • Search keywords ANNUAL REVIEWS Further A nn u. R ev . F lu id M ec h. 2 01 6. 48 :4 87 -5 06 . D ow nl oa de d fr om w w w .a nn ua lr ev ie w s. or g A cc es s pr ov id ed b y N ew Y or k U ni ve rs ity B ob st L ib ra ry o n 01 /1 2/ 16 . F or p er so na l u se o nl y. FL48CH18-Shelley ARI 20 November 2015 16:24