Robust stochastic Turing patterns in the development of a one-dimensional cyanobacterial organism.

ABSTRACT: Under nitrogen deprivation, the one-dimensional cyanobacterial organism Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 develops patterns of single, nitrogen-fixing cells separated by nearly regular intervals of photosynthetic vegetative cells. We study a minimal, stochastic model of developmental patterns in Anabaena that includes a nondiffusing activator, two diffusing inhibitor morphogens, demographic fluctuations in the number of morphogen molecules, and filament growth. By tracking developing filaments, we provide experimental evidence for different spatiotemporal roles of the two inhibitors during pattern maintenance and for small molecular copy numbers, justifying a stochastic approach. In the deterministic limit, the model yields Turing patterns within a region of parameter space that shrinks markedly as th

SUBMITTER: Di Patti F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5955598 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature