Figure 4.

(A) Plot of strain versus force applied to the network. For simplicity, we consider additional tail domain binding events resulting from application of the external force. We also employ maximum binding conditions. The outcome shows that the crosslinked network (as shown in Fig. 2B) is stiffer than the dispersed one (as shown in Fig. 1 B). (B and C) Initial and final configurations when filament length is reduced to 0.5 μm, after 5 × 10⁵ steps (or 10.8 ms) and including tail domain binding events and long-range filament interactions (ΔG^f = −100 k_BT/μm²; d^f₀ = 20 nm; and d^f_cutoff = 40 nm). (D and E) RMSD and number of paired filaments for the cases shown in B and C, respectively. The configuration shown in panel C cannot sustain mechanical deformation due to external stress. This result conveys the fragility of epithelial cells expressing disease-causing mutations in K5 and K14.