Orateur
Description
Non-equilibrium cluster-cluster aggregation of scaffold proteins has been hypothesized to underly
the formation and maintenance of inhibitory postsynaptic domains of neurons, where the desorption
of scaffold proteins into the cytoplasm imposes a cut-off on possible aggregate sizes and gives rise to
a stationary size distribution. Here, we investigate the case of non-equilibrium cluster-cluster aggre-
gation in two dimensions where diffusing particles and/or clusters remain fixed in space at specific
anchoring sites, which should be particularly relevant for synapses but may also be present in other
biological or physical systems. Using an effective mean-field description of the concentration field
around anchored clusters, we derive an expression for their average size as a function of parameters
such as the anchoring site density. We furthermore propose and solve appropriate rate equations
that allow us to predict the size distributions of both diffusing and fixed clusters. We confirm our
results with particle-based simulations, and discuss potential implications for biological and physical
systems.
| Affiliation de l'auteur principal | PMMH |
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