Berlin 2012 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 29: Posters: Regulation
BP 29.6: Poster
Thursday, March 29, 2012, 17:30–19:30, Poster A
Molecular Mechanisms of Pattern Formation: Inward Rotating Spiral Waves in Glycolysis — •Ronny Straube1 and Ernesto M. Nicola2 — 1Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Magdeburg — 2Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems, Palma de Mallorca
We have recently observed a novel type of spiral wave behavior called inward rotating spiral waves or anti-spirals [1]. To elucidate the underlying molecular mechanism leading to this unusual wave behavior we compare two mechanisms of product activation for the allosteric enzyme phosphofructokinase using amplitude equations. We find that a sequential activation mechanism as in the Monod-Wyman-Changeux (WMC) model is able to generate inward propagating waves while a simple Hill function, as employed in the Selkov model, is not [2]. We show that the occurrence of inward propagating waves does not depend on the magnitude of the enzyme cooperativity (as is true for the occurrence of homogeneous oscillations), but on its sensitivity with respect to changes in the activator concentration. Our results provide an explicit example which shows how the macroscopically observable patterns in a spatially extended system depend on the molecular details of the underlying reaction mechanism.
[1] Straube R, Vermeer S, Nicola EM, Mair T (2010). Inward rotating spiral waves in glycolysis. Biophys. J. 99, L4-L6.
[2] Straube R, Nicola EM (2010). Diffusive coupling can discriminate between similar reaction mechanisms in an allosteric enzyme system. BMC Syst. Biol. 4:165.