CometWiki

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

Introduction

Cell Movement

Cells in our body use actin to move. Unlike the actin-myosin interaction that produces muscle movement, this kind of movement is on a much smaller scale---the scale of individual cells---and allows, for example, neurons to migrate and wire up to the right part of the brain, and cells in our immune system to track down and engulf bacteria. To achieve this movement, cells lay down actin polymer networks that produce force.

Bead Motility

One popular way to study how our cells use actin networks to produce force and move is using a simplified system---actin-based bead motility---which recreates motility in vitro. To do this, we coat a bead with proteins that normally tell the cell to polymerize actin, then put the bead a solution similar to that inside of the cell, which causes an actin network to build around the bead. Surprisingly, even when the bead is spherically symmetric, rather than just building a symmetric shell that gets bigger and bigger, the bead moves off in 'comet tail' of actin. This bead motility simulator help us understand how this process works, by recreating the process in silico.

Essential Information

How the program works

Installing the program

comet runs on any unix-like operating system, including OS X, Linux or Windows (under cygwin).

Running the program

The program is called from the command line. The command line parameters tell the program what to do (calculate a new run, re-process existing data, interactive 3D view etc.). A cometparams.ini file in the working directory tells the program detailed information about the model parameters to use for calculation and display.

Simulator Output

Example Results

Model Robustness

In Vitro

In Depth Information

Inner workings of the code

Making Measurments


Code Status