On system-spanning demixing properties of cell polarization.

ABSTRACT: A number of mathematical models have been suggested to describe cell polarization in eukaryotic cells. One class of models takes into account that certain proteins are conserved on the time scale of cell polarization and may switch between a fast and a slow diffusing state. We raise the question whether models sharing this design feature can be condensed into one system-spanning model. We show exemplarily for the mass-conserved reaction-diffusion model of Otsuji et al. (Otsuji M et al. (2007) PLoS Comput Biol 3(6):e108) that cell polarization can be classified as active phase separation. This includes a fundamental connection between a number of non-equilibrium demixing phenomena such as cell polarization to phase separation. As shown recently, generic properties of active phase separation

SUBMITTER: Bergmann F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6588261 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature