1,061 research outputs found
Development of Morphogen Gradient: The Role of Dimension and Discreteness
The fundamental processes of biological development are governed by multiple
signaling molecules that create non-uniform concentration profiles known as
morphogen gradients. It is widely believed that the establishment of morphogen
gradients is a result of complex processes that involve diffusion and
degradation of locally produced signaling molecules. We developed a
multi-dimensional discrete-state stochastic approach for investigating the
corresponding reaction-diffusion models. It provided a full analytical
description for stationary profiles and for important dynamic properties such
as local accumulation times, variances and mean first-passage times. The role
of discreteness in developing of morphogen gradients is analyzed by comparing
with available continuum descriptions. It is found that the continuum models
prediction about multiple time scales near the source region in two-dimensional
and three-dimensional systems is not supported in our analysis. Using ideas
that view the degradation process as an effective potential, the effect of
dimensionality on establishment of morphogen gradients is also discussed. In
addition, we investigated how these reaction-diffusion processes are modified
with changing the size of the source region
- …