A mathematical model of cleavage

Masakazu Akiyama*, Atsushi Tero, Ryo Kobayashi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

In the present paper, we propose a mathematical model of cleavage. Cleavage is a process during the early stages of development in which the fertile egg undergoes repeated division keeping the cluster size almost constant. During the cleavage process individual cells repeat cell division in an orderly manner to form a blastula, however, the mechanism which achieves such a coordination is still not very clear. In the present research, we took sea urchin as an example and focused on the diffusion of chemical substances from the animal and vegetal pole. By considering chemotactic motion of the centrosomes, we constructed a mathematical model that describes the processes in the early stages of cleavage.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)84-94
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Theoretical Biology
Volume264
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010/05/07

Keywords

  • Centrosome
  • Cleavage
  • Mathematical model
  • Pattern formation
  • Sea urchin egg

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Statistics and Probability
  • Modeling and Simulation
  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Immunology and Microbiology
  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
  • Applied Mathematics

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