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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 26: Posters II

BP 26.47: Poster

Donnerstag, 28. Februar 2008, 17:00–19:30, Poster A

Glycolytic oscillations in a layer of interacting cells — •Jana Schütze and Jana Wolf — AG Theoretische Biophysik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Synchronisation of glycolytic oscillations in populations of yeast cells has been intensively analysed experimentally as well as theoretically. There is evidence that the individual cells communicate by exchanging products of glycolysis as acetaldehyde, for which the plasma membrane is permeable. Whereas previous models considered well stirred cell suspensions we here analyse the dynamics in a layer of cells. We aim to understand the conditions for wave initiation as observed in experiments where glucose was added to starved cells in a limited region of a cell layer.

For the generation of oscillations in the individual cells a two-component model containing an autocatalytic step is used. Cells are embedded in an extracellular medium in which the added glucose and the extracellular product can diffuse. Intercellular coupling takes place via the exchange of the end product. For single cells and a small number of interacting cells, the oscillations can be studied by using bifurcation analysis. In two-dimensional spatial arrangements of cells where glucose injection is continuously confined to a limited number of cells, waves of glycolytic oscillations can be observed. The strength of the product coupling as well as the stationary glucose distribution effect the existence and the range of waves, the propagation velocity and the period of the oscillations.