Abstract
We analyze the dynamics of overlapping antiparallel treadmillingmicrotubules in the presence of crosslinking processive motor proteinsthat counterbalance an external force. We show that coupling the force-dependent velocity of motors and the kinetics of motor exchange with abath in the presence of treadmilling leads generically to oscillatorybehavior. In addition, we show that coupling the polymerization kineticsto the external force through the kinetics of the crosslinking motors canstabilize the oscillatory instability into finite-amplitude nonlinearoscillations and may lead to other scenarios, including bistability. Reference : (2012) EPL 98 68005
