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Simulation of enzymatic cellular reactions complicated by phase separation
1Department of Applied Physics, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden. zhdanov@catalysis.nsk.su
Summary
Enzymatic reactions with attractive products can cause cell phase separation, forming patterns like islands or central patches. This phenomenon leads to reaction rate fluctuations exceeding Poissonian predictions.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Chemical Kinetics
- Computational Biology
Background:
- Enzymatic reactions are fundamental to cellular processes.
- Michaelis-Menten kinetics describes enzyme-substrate interactions.
- Cellular phase separation influences biological organization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate cellular reaction-diffusion systems with product attraction.
- To model phase separation using Monte Carlo simulations.
- To analyze reaction rate fluctuations in phase-separated systems.
Main Methods:
- Two-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations.
- Modeling enzymatic reactions via the Michaelis-Menten scheme.
- Incorporating attractive interactions between reaction products.
Main Results:
- Predicted phase separation in cells for fast enzymatic reactions.
- Observed pattern variation from discrete islands to central patches.
- Demonstrated reaction rate fluctuations significantly higher than Poissonian predictions.
Conclusions:
- Attractive product interactions can drive cellular phase separation.
- Phase separation leads to non-Poissonian reaction rate fluctuations.
- The spatial organization of reactions impacts cellular dynamics.