Microtubular Protofilament Analysis Based on Molecular Level Tubulin Interaction
JongWon Kim1,2, Ning Li2, Ramana Pidaparti2,*, Xianqiao Wang2,*
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.15, No.3, pp. 127-141, 2018, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2018.02669
Abstract Nonlinear microstructure of the microtubules (MTs) plays an important role in their mechanical properties. Despite the extensive efforts into the development of continuum models for microtubules, a mesoscale finite element model that can link the molecular level information to the overall performance of microtubules is still missing. The aim of this study is to develop a molecular dynamics model (MDM), finite element model (FEM) and structural mechanics beam model (SMBM) for tubulins of protofilament (PF). In MDM, the backbone atoms of α-tubulin were fixed while the backbone atoms of β-tubulin were attached to a molecular… More >