Fig. 1

Anisotropic stress affects self-organization of microtubules and correlates with global orientation. (A and B) Steady state MT network morphology. All snapshots are taken at 100 min. MTs are subject to network stress predominant in y direction (right), isotropic (left). In A and B, polymerization rate is enhanced, and catastrophe frequency is reduced in alignment with principal stress, respectively. (C) A representative case with the time evolution of the network order parameter S_p. The first time constant is calculated as the time required to reach half of the S_p value at steady state. In cases with isotropic stress, S_p was calculated with respect to the average orientation of all microtubules, whereas it was calculated with respect to the principal direction of stress in cases with anisotropic stress. (D) Summary of the network order parameter S_p at 100 min for all different conditions with isotropic vs. anisotropic stress in which principal stress influences individual stochastic parameter independently. (E) Boxplot of the time constant (τ_p) acquired from cases with isotropic or anisotropic stress under all conditions. τ_p is time required for S_p to reach half of its steady-state value. Data for each condition are averaged over 20 simulations in each case (n = 20). P: polymerization, D: depolymerization, C: catastrophe, R: rescue; ns p > 0.05, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, **** p < 0.0001