INVESTIGADORES
PONCE DAWSON Silvina Martha
artículos
Título:
Turing Patterns Inside Cells
Autor/es:
DAMIAN E. STRIER; SILVINA PONCE DAWSON
Revista:
PLoS ONE
Referencias:
Año: 2007 vol. 10 p. 10531 - 10534
ISSN:
1932-6203
Resumen:
Concentration gradients inside cells are involved in key processes such
as cell division and morphogenesis. Here we show that a model of the
enzymatic step catalized by phosphofructokinase (PFK), a step
which is responsible for the appearance of homogeneous oscillations in
the glycolytic pathway, displays Turing patterns with an intrinsic
length-scale that is smaller than a typical cell size. All the
parameter values are fully consistent with classic experiments on
glycolytic oscillations and equal diffusion coefficients are assumed
for ATP and ADP. We identify the enzyme concentration
and the glycolytic flux as the possible regulators of the pattern. To
the best of our knowledge, this is the first closed example of Turing
pattern formation in a model of a vital step of the cell metabolism,
with a built-in mechanism for changing the diffusion length of the
reactants, and with parameter values that are compatible with
experiments. Turing patterns inside cells could provide a check-point
that combines mechanical and biochemical information to trigger events
during the cell division process.