The Dynamics of Turing Patterns for Morphogen-Regulated Growing Domains with Cellular Response Delays

• Published in: Bulletin of mathematical biology Vol. 73; no. 11; pp. 2527 - 2551
• Main Authors: Seirin Lee, S., Gaffney, E. A., Baker, R. E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer-Verlag 01.11.2011; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Body Patterning - genetics; Body Patterning - physiology; Cell Biology; Developmental Biology; Feedback, Physiological; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Growth Substances - genetics; Growth Substances - physiology; Humans; Life Sciences; Ligands; Mathematical and Computational Biology; Mathematical Concepts; Mathematics; Mathematics and Statistics; Models, Biological; Morphogenesis - genetics; Morphogenesis - physiology; Original Article; Growing domains; Turing pattern formation; Time delays
• ISSN: 0092-8240; 1522-9602; 1522-9602
• DOI: 10.1007/s11538-011-9634-8

Since its conception in 1952, the Turing paradigm for pattern formation has been the subject of numerous theoretical investigations. Experimentally, this mechanism was first demonstrated in chemical reactions over 20 years ago and, more recently, several examples of biological self-organisation have also been implicated as Turing systems. One criticism of the Turing model is its lack of robustness, not only with respect to fluctuations in the initial conditions, but also with respect to the inclusion of delays in critical feedback processes such as gene expression. In this work we investigate the possibilities for Turing patterns on growing domains where the morphogens additionally regulate domain growth, incorporating delays in the feedback between signalling and domain growth, as well as gene expression. We present results for the proto-typical Schnakenberg and Gierer–Meinhardt systems: exploring the dynamics of these systems suggests a reconsideration of the basic Turing mechanism for pattern formation on morphogen-regulated growing domains as well as highlighting when feedback delays on domain growth are important for pattern formation.