Bistability & Traveling Front Dynamics with Aurora B Kinase
Published in (not applicable), 2021
Unpublished MSc Thesis.
Author: Patrick Govoni
Supervisor: Prof. Lendert Gelens
Affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, KU Leuven
Group: Dynamics in Biological Systems
Years: 2020-2021
Abstract:
Reliable chromosome segregation is vital to an organism’s long-term survival. Aurora B kinase, one of the key players in this critical mitotic event, uses a spatial gradient in activity to help selectively stabilize kinetochore-microtubule attachments and achieve properly balanced biorientation before chromatid splitting in anaphase. A popular theory asserts that Aurora B kinase (ABK) achieves this spatial gradient through the combination of localization, diffusion, and bistable reaction kinetics together with phosphatase (PPase). In this report I will discuss the individual aspects of these components in a theoretical context, the experimental effort to construct a minimal kinase-phosphatase system, as well as simulation explorations of the system using two different modeling approaches.