Work

Multiscale modelling of active hydrogel elasticity driven by living polymers: softening by bacterial motor protein FtsZ

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: We present a neo-Hookean elasticity theory for hybrid mechano-active hydrogels, integrating motor proteins into polymer meshes to create composite materials with active softening due to modulable chain overlaps. Focusing on polyacrylamide (PA) hydrogels embedded with FtsZ, a bacterial cytokinetic protein powered by GTP, we develop a multiscale model using microscopic Flory theory of rubbery meshes through mesoscopic De Gennes' scaling concepts for meshwork dynamics and phenomenological Landau's formalism for second-order phase transitions. Our theoretical multiscale model explains the active softening observed in hybrid FtsZ-PA hydrogels by incorporating modulable meshwork dynamics, such as overlapping functionality and reptation dynamics, into an active mean-field of unbinding interactions. The novel FtsZ-based metamaterial and companion multiscale theory offer insights for designing, predicting, and controlling complex active hydrogels, with potential applications in technology and biomedicine.

Source: Soft Matter

DOI: 10.1039/d4sm00839a

Authors: Horacio López-Menéndez, Clara Luque-Rioja, Mikheil Kharbedia, Diego Herráez-Aguilar, José A. Santiago, Francisco Monroy

Institutions: Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Research Institute Hospital 12 de Octubre, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana

Language: English

Topic: Advanced Materials and Mechanics

Subfield: Mechanical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid