Spatio-temporal dynamics of glycolysis in cell layers. A mathematical model

Glycolytic oscillations occur in many cell types and have been intensively studied in yeast. Recent experimental and theoretical research has been focussed on the oscillatory dynamics and the synchronisation mechanism in stirred yeast cell suspensions. Here we are interested in the spatio-temporal organisation of glycolysis in cell layers. To this end we study a grid of a few thousand compartments each containing a cell. The intracellular dynamics is described by a core model of glycolysis. The compartments can exchange metabolites via diffusion. The conditions for oscillatory dynamics in a single compartment are investigated by bifurcation analysis. The spatio-temporal behaviour of the cell layer is studied by simulations. The model predicts the propagation of repetitive wave fronts induced by a substrate gradient. The formation of these waves crucially depends on the diffusive exchange of the reaction product between cells. Depending on the kinetic parameters complex spatio-temporal behaviour such as periodic termination of waves can arise. In these cases the cellular oscillation characteristics depend on the location of the cell in the array.