Self-organization of microtubules: complexity analysis of emergent patterns

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2305.00539
• Publication Date: 2023-01-01
• Authors: Nikita Frolov; Bram Bijnens; Daniel Ruiz-Reynés; Lendert Gelens
• Keywords: Self-Organization; Molecular motor

Microtubules self-organize to structure part of the cellular cytoskeleton. As such they give cells their shape and play a crucial role in cell division intracellular transport. Past studies have identified diverse spatio-temporal patterns into which microtubules can organize when driven by motor proteins. The question remains if there is an appropriate way quantify these structures gain new knowledge about physical principles self-organization microtubule-motor mixtures. Here, we aim approach this problem from complexity science perspective. We introduce entropy-based measure evaluate structural spatial emerging simplified agent-based computational model interactions. Our results demonstrate that proposed quantifier discriminates well between ordered, disordered, intermediate structures. Besides, our study indicates transition steady states system likely be discontinuous exhibits distinct properties self-organized criticality.