Pattern formation inside bacteria: fluctuations due to low copy number of proteins
Statistical Mechanics
2009-11-10 v1 Biological Physics
Subcellular Processes
Abstract
We examine fluctuation effects due to the low copy number of proteins involved in pattern-forming dynamics within a bacterium. We focus on a stochastic model of the oscillating MinCDE protein system regulating accurate cell division in E. coli. We find that, for some parameter regions, the protein concentrations are low enough that fluctuations are essential for the generation of patterns. We also examine the role of fluctuations in constraining protein concentration levels.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0302409,
title = {Pattern formation inside bacteria: fluctuations due to low copy number of proteins},
author = {Martin Howard and Andrew D. Rutenberg},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0302409},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett