Mechanical oscillations at the cellular scale
Abstract
Description
Active phenomena which involve force generation and motion play a key role in a number of phenomena in living cells such as cell motility, muscle contraction and the active transport of material and organelles. Here we discuss mechanical oscillations generated by active systems in cells. Examples are oscillatory regimes in muscles, the periodic beating of axonemal cilia and flagella and spontaneous oscillations of auditory hair cells which play a role in active amplification of weak sounds in hearing. As a prototype system for oscillation generation by proteins, we discuss a general mechanism by which many coupled active elements such as motor molecules can generate oscillations.
16 pages LATEX 6 figures
16 pages LATEX 6 figures