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Study and simulation of reaction-diffusion systems affected by interacting signaling pathways.
Majid Bani-Yaghoub1, David E Amundsen
1School of Mathematics and Statistics, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1S-5B6. mbani@math.carleton.ca
Investigating Retinoic Acid (RA) and Notch signaling interactions reveals significant impacts on neurite outgrowth. High RA-Notch interaction levels can alter bifurcation dynamics, influencing axon formation and spontaneous symmetry breaking.
Area of Science:
- Computational biology
- Neuroscience
- Systems biology
Background:
- Signaling pathway cross-talk is crucial for cellular processes.
- Neurite outgrowth and axon formation are complex developmental events.
- Turing instability and symmetry breaking are key concepts in pattern formation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of Retinoic Acid (RA) and Notch signaling pathway interaction on neurite outgrowth.
- To examine the role of spontaneous neurite symmetry breaking and Turing instability in axon formation.
- To analyze how RA-Notch interaction perturbs a Reaction-Diffusion (RD) system modeling axon formation in N2a neuroblastoma cells.
Main Methods:
- Numerical simulations of a Reaction-Diffusion (RD) system.
- Analysis of bifurcation dynamics (saddle-node and Hopf bifurcations).
- Modeling the interaction between Retinoic Acid (RA) and Notch signaling pathways.
Main Results:
- Low levels of RA-Notch interaction show robustness in saddle-node bifurcations.
- High levels of RA-Notch interaction induce transitions from saddle-node to Hopf bifurcations.
- Spontaneous symmetry breaking is linked to Hopf bifurcations and faster activated Notch protein transport.
Conclusions:
- Increased RA-Notch interaction significantly impacts neurite outgrowth and axon formation.
- Bifurcation analysis reveals distinct system behaviors under varying RA-Notch interaction levels.
- Symmetry breaking during axon formation may depend on the dynamics of Notch protein transport near Hopf bifurcations.
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