Active Entanglement-Tracking Microrheology Directly Couples Macromolecular Deformations to Nonlinear Microscale Force Response of Entangled Actin

Abstract

We track the deformation of discrete entangled actin segments while simultaneously measuring the resistive force the deformed filaments exert in response to an optically driven microsphere. We precisely map the network deformation field to show that local microscale stresses can induce filament deformations that propagate beyond mesoscopic length scales (60 μm, >3 persistence lengths l p ). We show that the filament persistence length controls the critical length scale at which distinct entanglement deformations become driven by collective network mechanics. Mesoscale propagation beyond l p is coupled with nonlinear local stresses arising from steric entanglements mimicking cross-links.