Are microtubules discrete or continuum systems?

Abstract In this paper we study nonlinear dynamics of microtubules (MTs) relying on so-called u-model. A crucial discrete differential equation is transformed into a partial differential equation using a continuum approximation. Both the continuum and the discrete equations are solved and an excellent agreement of the results shows that MTs can be viewed as continuum systems. Thus we proved that the continuum approximation is applicable in research of nonlinear dynamics of MTs.

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