CometWiki

CometWiki

This site describes the set up and usage of `comet', an actin-based bead motility simulator.

Actin is a polymer built by cells that allows them to move. Actin-based bead motility is an in vitro model system used to study how our cells produce force and move, carried out by coating a bead with proteins that tell the cell to polymerize actin, and putting the bead a solution that mimics the material inside cells. This causes an actin network to build around the bead. Surprisingly even when the bead is spherically symmetric, rather than just buiding a symmetric shell that gets bigger and bigger, it moves off in 'comet tail' of actin. This bead motility simulater aims to help us understand how this process works.

Here are some examples of the simulator output:

• More examples

Essential Information

Installing the program

• Detailed instructions for downloading and installing comet on OS X, Linux or Windows

Running the program

• Basic instructions for running the program from the command line

• Understanding the program parameters (the cometparams.ini file)

In Depth

• Tracking network movement and making measurements