
@article {110442,
	title = {Active segregation dynamics in the living cell},
	journal = {INDIAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICS},
	year = {2022},
	month = {05/2022},
	abstract = {<p>In this paper, we bring together our efforts in identifying and understanding nonequilibrium phase segregation driven by active processes in the living cell, with special focus on the segregation of cell membrane components driven by active contractile stresses arising from cortical actomyosin. This also has implications for active segregation dynamics in membraneless regions within the cytoplasm and nucleus (3d). We formulate an active version of the Flory-Huggins theory that incorporates a contribution from fluctuating active stresses. Apart from knitting together some of our past theoretical works in a comprehensive narrative, we highlight some new results, and establish a correspondence with recent studies on Active Model B/B+. We point to the many unusual aspects of the dynamics of active phase segregation, such as (i) Anomalous growth dynamics, (ii) Coarsening accompanied by propulsion and coalescence of domains that exhibit non-reciprocal effects, (iii) Segregation into mesoscale domains, (iv) Emergence of a nonequilibrium phase segregated steady state characterised by strong macroscopic fluctuations (fluctuation dominated phase ordering (FDPO)), and (v) Mesoscale segregation even above the equilibrium T-c. Apart from its implications for actively driven segregation of binary fluids, these ideas are at the heart of an Active Emulsion description of the lateral organisation of molecules on the plasma membrane of living cells, whose full molecular elaboration appears elsewhere.</p>
},
	doi = {10.1007/s12648-022-02298-z},
	author = {Bansal, Ajay and Das, Amit and Rao, Madan}
}
@article {3574,
	title = {Phase Segregation of Passive Advective Particles in an Active Medium.},
	journal = {Phys Rev Lett},
	volume = {116},
	year = {2016},
	month = {2016 Feb 12},
	pages = {068306},
	abstract = {<p>Localized contractile configurations or asters spontaneously appear and disappear as emergent structures in the collective stochastic dynamics of active polar actomyosin filaments. Passive particles which (un)bind to the active filaments get advected into the asters, forming transient clusters. We study the phase segregation of such passive advective scalars in a medium of dynamic asters, as a function of the aster density and the ratio of the rates of aster remodeling to particle diffusion. The dynamics of coarsening shows a violation of Porod behavior; the growing domains have diffuse interfaces and low interfacial tension. The phase-segregated steady state shows strong macroscopic fluctuations characterized by multiscaling and intermittency, signifying rapid reorganization of macroscopic structures. We expect these unique nonequilibrium features to manifest in the actin-dependent molecular clustering at the cell surface.</p>
},
	issn = {1079-7114},
	doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.068306},
	author = {Das, Amit and Polley, Anirban and Rao, Madan}
}
