Journal
SYSTEMS & CONTROL LETTERS
Volume 55, Issue 4, Pages 329-337Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.sysconle.2005.08.009
Keywords
chemotaxis; gradient sensing; positive feedback
Funding
- NIGMS NIH HHS [R01 GM071920] Funding Source: Medline
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After stimulation by chemoattractant, Dictyostelium cells exhibit a rapid response. The concentrations of several intracellular proteins rise rapidly reaching their maximum levels approximately 5-10 s, after which they return to prestimulus levels. This response, which is found in many other chemotaxing cells, is an example of a step disturbance rejection, a process known to biologists as perfect adaptation. Unlike other cells, however, the initial first peak observed in the chemoattractant-induced response of Dictyostelium cells is then followed by a slower, smaller phase peaking approximately 1-2 min after the stimulus. Until recently, the nature of this biphasic response has been poorly understood. Moreover, the origin for the second phase is unknown. In this paper we conjecture the existence of a feedback path between the response and stimulus. Using a mathematical model of the chemoattractant-induced response in cells, and standard tools from control engineering, we show that positive feedback may elicit this second peak. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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