Universal Casimir attraction between filaments at the cell scale

Refubium (Universitätsbibliothek der Freien Universität Berlin)

Abstract

The electromagnetic Casimir interaction between dielectric objects immersed in salted water includes a universal contribution that is not screened by the solvent and therefore long-ranged. Here, we study the geometry of two parallel dielectric cylinders. We derive the Casimir free energy by using the scattering method. We show that its magnitude largely exceeds the thermal energy scale for a large parameter range. This includes length scales relevant for actin filaments and microtubules in cells. We show that the Casimir free energy is a universal function of the geometry, independent of the dielectric response functions of the cylinders, at all distances of biological interest. While multiple interactions exist between filaments in cells, this universal attractive interaction should have an important role in the cohesion of bundles of parallel filaments.

Authors 6

1. Benjamin Spreng

   University of California System

   Affiliation as printed

   UC - University of California (United States)

2. Hélène Berthoumieux

   Gulliver · Freie Universität Berlin · ESPCI Paris

   Affiliation as printed

   Freie Universität Berlin (Kaiserswerther Str. 16-18, 14195 Berlin - Germany)

   Gulliver (UMR 7083) (ESPCI, 10, rue Vauquelin, 75231 Paris cedex 05 - France)

3. Astrid Lambrecht Aachen

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   FZJ - Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH | Centre de recherche de Jülich | Jülich Research Centre (Wilhelm-Johnen-Straße, 52428 Jülich - Germany)

   RWTH - Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University (RWTH Aachen Templergraben 55 52062 Aachen (Hausanschrift) 52056 Aachen (Postanschrift) - Germany)

4. Anne‐Florence Bitbol

   SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics · University of Lausanne

   Affiliation as printed

   SIB - Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics [Lausanne] (Quartier UNIL-Sorge Bâtiment Génopode CH-1015 Lausanne - Switzerland)

   School of Life Sciences [Lausanne] (Lausanne - Switzerland)

5. Paulo A. Maia Neto

   Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

   Affiliation as printed

   UFRJ - Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro [Brasil] = Federal University of Rio de Janeiro [Brazil] = Université fédérale de Rio de Janeiro [Brésil] (Av. Pedro Calmon, 550 - Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 21941-901 - Brazil)

6. Serge Reynaud

   Collège de France · Laboratoire Kastler Brossel

   Affiliation as printed

   LKB [Collège de France] - Laboratoire Kastler Brossel (11 place Marcelin Berthelot, 75005 Paris - France)