Book ChapterDOI
A computational model for eukaryotic directional sensing
Andrea Antonio Gamba,Antonio de Candia,Fausto Cavalli,Stefano Di Talia,Antonio Coniglio,Federico Bussolino,Guido Serini +6 more
- Vol. 4210, pp 184-195
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
In this article, a phase ordering process mediated by phosphoinositide diffusion and driven by the distribution of chemotactic signal is proposed to explain the ability of eukaryotic cells to migrate directionally.Abstract:
Many eukaryotic cell types share the ability to migrate directionally in response to external chemoattractant gradients. This ability is central in the development of complex organisms, and is the result of billion years of evolution. Cells exposed to shallow gradients in chemoattractant concentration respond with strongly asymmetric accumulation of several signaling factors, such as phosphoinositides and enzymes. This early symmetry-breaking stage is believed to trigger effector pathways leading to cell movement. Although many factors implied in directional sensing have been recently discovered, the physical mechanism of signal amplification is not yet well understood. We have proposed that directional sensing is the consequence of a phase ordering process mediated by phosphoinositide diffusion and driven by the distribution of chemotactic signal. By studying a realistic computational model that describes enzymatic activity, recruitment to the plasmamembrane, and diffusion of phosphoinositide products we have shown that the effective enzyme-enzyme interaction induced by catalysis and diffusion introduces an instability of the system towards phase separation for realistic values of physical parameters. In this framework, large reversible amplification of shallow chemotactic gradients, selective localization of chemical factors, macroscopic response timescales, and spontaneous polarization arise.read more
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Exact Stochastic Simulation of Coupled Chemical Reactions
TL;DR: In this article, a simulation algorithm for the stochastic formulation of chemical kinetics is proposed, which uses a rigorously derived Monte Carlo procedure to numerically simulate the time evolution of a given chemical system.
Journal ArticleDOI
Cell migration: integrating signals from front to back.
Anne J. Ridley,Martin A. Schwartz,Keith Burridge,Richard A. Firtel,Mark H. Ginsberg,Gary G. Borisy,J. Thomas Parsons,Alan Rick Horwitz +7 more
TL;DR: The mechanisms underlying the major steps of migration and the signaling pathways that regulate them are described, and recent advances investigating the nature of polarity in migrating cells and the pathways that establish it are outlined.
Journal ArticleDOI
Cell Migration: A Physically Integrated Molecular Process
TL;DR: The authors are grateful for financial support from the National Institutes of Health (grants GM23244 and GM53905), and to very helpful comments on the manuscript from Elliot Elson, Vlodya Gelfand, Paul Matsudaira, Julie Theriot, and Sally Zigmond.
Journal ArticleDOI
Domain shapes and patterns: the phenomenology of modulated phases.
Michael Seul,David Andelman +1 more
TL;DR: The phenomenology of these patterns, and of the shapes of their constituent domains, is reviewed here from a point of view that interprets these patterns as a manifestation of modulated phases.
Book
Monte Carlo Simulation in Statistical Physics: An Introduction
Kurt Binder,Dieter W. Heermann +1 more
TL;DR: A short and systematic theoretical introduction to the Monte Carlo method and a practical guide with plenty of examples and exercises for the student.