Figure 3. The number of microtubules comprising the aster does not alter centrosome dynamics.

The randomness in the direction of the microtubules leads to variability in the dynamics. This is shown as error bars representing the standard deviation for multiple runs of the simulation for 100 MTs. The 1000 MT trace lies close to the average and within the error bars indicating similar dynamics. Although the drag arising from having more microtubules (MTs) increases with microtubule number, the number of force generating vesicles increases in the same proportion leading to identical centrosome velocity. (calculation parameters: microtubule numbers as indicated: 1000 (red), 100 (black) in order of increasing duration shown; 100 nm diameter vesicles; viscosity ratio = 3; 250 nm/s MT polymerization rate; 2 vesicles/µm; 2 µm/s vesicle velocity).