Thermal stress effects on microtubules based on orthotropic model: Vibrational analysis

Vibration of protein microtubules is investigated based upon Orthotropic Elastic Shell Model, considering the effect of thermal stresses. The complete analytical formulas of thermal vibration for microtubules are obtained. It is observed that the effects of thermal stresses on the vibrational frequency mode are more significant when the longitudinal and circumferential wave vectors are large enough. But when the length of wave vector reduces to 5 nm, these effects have no significant effects. The present results well agree with the lattice vibrations of microtubules. Moreover, the results show that the effects of thermal stresses due to small change in temperature are not so significant but with the increase in temperature its effects are obvious.