Confinement determines transport of a reaction-diffusion active matter front

Couplings between biochemical and mechanical processes have a profound impact on embryonic development. However, in-vitro studies capable of quantifying these interactions have remained elusive. Here, we investigate a synthetic system where a DNA reaction-diffusion (RD) front is advected by a turbul...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. X Vol. 15; no. 2
Main Authors: Lobato-Dauzier, Nicolas, Maitra, Ananyo, Estevez-Torres, André, Galas, Jean-Christophe
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2025
Subjects:
Physics
Classification: Applied physical sciences (Biophysics and Computational Biology Active turbulence microtubule-kinesin pattern formation chemomechanics
Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph)
Classification: Applied physical sciences (Biophysics and Computational Biology Active turbulence
Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
FOS: Physical sciences
pattern formation
chemomechanics
microtubule-kinesin
ISSN:2160-3308
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Couplings between biochemical and mechanical processes have a profound impact on embryonic development. However, in-vitro studies capable of quantifying these interactions have remained elusive. Here, we investigate a synthetic system where a DNA reaction-diffusion (RD) front is advected by a turbulent flow generated by active matter (AM) flows in a quasi-one-dimensional geometry. Whereas the dynamics of simple RD fronts solely depend on the reaction and diffusion rates, we show that RD-AM front propagation is also influenced by the confinement geometry. We first experimentally dissected the different components of the reaction-diffusion-advection process by knocking out reaction or advection and observed how RD-AM allows for faster transport over large distances, avoiding dilution. We then show how confinement impacts active matter flow: while changes in instantaneous flow velocities are small; correlation times are dramatically increased with decreasing confinement. As a result, RD-AM front speed increased 3 to 9-fold compared to a RD one. This RD-AM experimental model provides a framework for the rational engineering of complex spatiotemporal processes observed in living systems. It will reinforce our understanding of how macro-scale patterns and structures emerge from microscopic components in non-equilibrium systems.
ISSN:2160-3308
DOI:10.48550/arXiv.2401.06674