nanomat-2019-posters-abstracts

Nanomat 2019

Nano Research & Applications

ISSN: 2471-9838

Page 37

January 28-29, 2019

Barcelona, Spain

Edition of International Conference on

Emerging Trends in

Materials Science and

Nanotechnology

icrotubules (MTs) are the major part of cytoskeleton. They

are long polymeric structures existing in eukaryotic cells.

MTs are hollow cylinders that spread between a nucleus and cell

membrane. They are involved in nucleic and cell divisions and

organization of intracellular structure. The most important for

this work is the fact that MTs also serve as a network for motor

proteins. There are two distinct families of MT associated motor

proteins that move along MTs carrying molecular and vesicular

cargos. These cellular motors with dimensions of less than 100

nmconvert chemical energy into useful work. Contrary to ordinary

MTs, those existing in neuronal cells are uniquely stable and

consequently, neurons once formed don’t divide. This stability is

crucial as there are evidences that neuronal MTs are responsible

for processing, storage and transduction of biological information

in a brain. Like all biological systems, MTs are nonlinear in their

nature. Investigation of nonlinear dynamics of MTs has yielded to

solitary waves moving along MTs. A recently established general

model of MTs is explained. It is shown that there are three types of

these solitarywaves. They are: kink solitons, bell-type solitons and

localized modulated waves called breathers. Two mathematical

procedures for solving a crucial nonlinear differential equation

are explained. They are based on semi-discrete and continuum

approximations. It is interesting that the kind of the obtained

soliton depends not only on the physical system but also on the

used mathematical method as well. It is argued that these waves

could be signals for the motor proteins to start and/or to stop

moving along MT.

Are solitary waves in microtubules signals for

motor proteins?

Slobodan Zdravković

Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, Serbia

Nano Res Appl 2019, Volume 5

DOI: 10.21767/2471-9838-C1-031