How to assemble a scale-invariant gradient

  1. Arnab Datta
  2. Sagnik Ghosh  Is a corresponding author
  3. Jane Kondev
  1. Department of Physics, Brandeis University, United States
10 figures and 1 additional file

Figures

The polar transport model of gradient formation.

Transport of proteins (red) in the cell is a combination of diffusion and polar transport. Diffusion occurs throughout the cytoplasm. When diffusing proteins encounter motor proteins (black arrows) …

Concentration gradient in a spherical cell.

(A) Sample steady-state configuration obtained from the direct simulation of the polar transport model in a spherical cell with 1000 proteins (red). Direction of polar transport on the surface of …

Protein gradient in a cylindrical cell.

(A) Configuration of the proteins obtained from simulation of the polar transport model with 1000 proteins (red circles). Directed transport on the surface of the cell is along positive z-direction. …

Concentration gradient in a spheroidal cell.

(A) Configuration of the proteins obtained from simulation of the polar transport model in a spheroidal cell of radius R=10μm and major axis a=20μm, and 1000 proteins. Direction of transport on the surface …

Effect of imperfect capture on the protein gradient.

(A) Protein concentration gradients (normalized by the average cytoplasmic concentration c0) in spherical cells of different radii, computed by simulations of the polar transport model with 1000 …

Effect of imperfect transport of proteins on the protein gradient.

(A) Concentration gradient obtained from simulation with 1000 proteins for various values of tbound with a spherical cell of radius R=10 μm. All other parameters are the same as in Figure 2. The analytic …

Appendix 1—figure 1
Surface concentration gradient for a spherical cell.

Concentration profiles on the surface of spherical cells of different radii, obtained from simulations of the polar transport model of gradient formations. Inset shows the same data, just with the …

Author response image 1
Concentration gradient for cells with the source at different distances from the pole (ε).

Concentration profiles with differing source points. We start very close to the pole and move further away. The radius of the sphere is 10 μm, the diffusion constant D=1 μm2/s and the transport speed along …

Author response image 2
Concentration gradient in XY plane for a spherical cell.

Concentration Profiles in the XY plane for three different distances from the pole. The radius of the sphere is 10 μm, the diffusion constant D=1 μm2/s and the transport speed along the cortex is v=1μm/s.

Author response image 3
Surface concentration gradient for a spherical cell.

Additional files

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