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Figure 4 | PMC Biophysics

Figure 4

From: Simple modeling of FtsZ polymers on flat and curved surfaces: correlation with experimental in vitro observations

Figure 4

Cooperative polymerization behavior. The concentration of unpolymerized protein monomers ρ1 is plotted as a function of the total monomer concentration ρT. The × symbols correspond to averages over equilibrated MC samplings, the short-dashed line (equal to the continuous line in the low density region I, is the isodesmic (ideal polymer) theoretical prediction for our model, which saturates to the long-dashed horizontal line (isodesmic CMC). The full horizontal line over regions II and III represents the true CMC due to the cooperative polymerization induced by the lateral attractions and the core repulsion. The insets show typical snapshots of the system in the isodesmic (I), non-ideal polymers (II) and condensed (III) regions, with protein coverage of the surface from 0.26 to 1.06 picomol/cm2. The interaction parameters are those corresponding to the wild type FtsZ on mica U a = 0.5 kT, U b = U+ = 12 kT and U- = 0.5 kT ([25] and Additional file 1)

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