Molecular structure study on the polyelectrolyte properties of actin filaments
Santiago Manrique‐Bedoya, Marcelo Marucho
Abstract
and intracellular conditions. This article uses a molecular structure model for actin filaments to investigate the impact of roughness and finite size on the mean electrical potential, ionic density distributions, currents, and conductivities. We solved the electrochemical theories numerically without further approximations. Our findings bring new insights into the electrochemical interactions between a filament's irregular surface charge density and the surrounding medium. The irregular shape of the filament structure model generated pockets, or hot spots, where the current density reached higher or lower magnitudes than those in neighboring areas throughout the filament surface. It also revealed the formation of a well-defined asymmetric electrical double layer with a thickness larger than that commonly used for symmetric models.