2017/05/06 by Uli Dobramysl, David Holcman, Dobramysl, Uli +1 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #92C17 #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #Cell Behavior (q-bio.CB) #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #msc:92C17 #physics.bio-ph #q-bio.CB
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1705.02529
5 pages, revision in PRL 2017
arxiv created 2017/05/06 · arxiv updated 2017/05/09
Recovering the position of a source from the fluxes of diffusing particles through small receptors allows a biological cell to determine its relative position, spatial localization and guide it to a final target. However, how a source can be recovered from point fluxes remains unclear. Using the Narrow Escape Time approach for an open domain, we compute the diffusion fluxes of Brownian particles generated by a steady-state gradient from a single source through small holes distributed on a surface in two dimensions. We find that the location of a source can be recovered when there are at least 3 receptors and the source is positioned no further than 10 cell radii away, but this condition is not necessary in a narrow strip. The present approach provides a computational basis for the first step of direction sensing of a gradient at a single cell level.