Dresden 2009 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 1: Dynamic Processes and Pattern Formation
BP 1.7: Talk
Monday, March 23, 2009, 12:15–12:30, HÜL 186
A Reaction-Diffusion System to Model Symmetry Breaking in C. elegans — •Philipp Khuc Trong1,2,3, Nathan W. Goehring2, Ernesto M. Nicola1, and Stephan W. Grill1,2 — 1Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany — 2Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany — 3University of Technology Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
Prior to the first unequal cell division in the Caenorhabditis elegans embryo the PAR proteins become distributed asymmetrically in distinct anterior and posterior domains. Here we present a two-variable, mass conserved reaction-diffusion system in which PAR segregation can be triggered either convectively by cortical flows or spontaneously by random perturbations. We show that the spontaneous symmetry breaking is induced by a mechanism similar to a Turing instability. However, in our model the wavelength of the fastest growing spatial pattern is always equal to the system size. We explore the robustness of this mechanism as a function of the reaction rates and furthermore consider the volume differences between cell cortex and cytoplasm.