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Diffusion-Limited Speed of an Actin-Propelled Particle Near a Surface

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Abstract

Some invasive pathogens and other particles are propelled intracellularly by the polymerization of actin at the particle surface into a dense “comet tail” of filamentous actin. As new monomers are added to the filament (+)-ends located the junction between the particle and its comet tail, the particle is propelled forward. The molecular origin of force generation and how the elongating comet tail remains attached to the particle surface via nucleation promoting factors such as N-WASP remain unresolved questions. Recently, based on measurements of biomimetic particles coated with RickA, a bacterial homolog to N-WASP, Shaevitz and Fletcher [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104:15688–15692, 2007] reported that particle speed depends on the separation distance from a nearby wall (slide surface), a result which they interpreted as the effect of hydrodynamic coupling to the wall damping fluctuations and inhibiting monomer addition, consistent with the well-known “Brownian ratchet” model for force generation. Based on a reaction-diffusion model for monomer transport and consumption at the particle surface, we show here that the experimentally observed speed-separation distance profile is completely consistent with hindered monomer diffusion due to the presence of the nearby wall. That is, the observed reduction in speed can be entirely explained by hindered diffusion, without invoking any hydrodynamic effect.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (CTS-0505929).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611-6005, USA

    Richard B. Dickinson

  2. J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611-6005, USA

    Richard B. Dickinson

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Correspondence to Richard B. Dickinson.

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Dickinson, R.B. Diffusion-Limited Speed of an Actin-Propelled Particle Near a Surface. Cel. Mol. Bioeng. 2, 200–206 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12195-009-0056-8

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