Theoretical studies of the chemotaxis of biological cells [Elektronische Ressource] / Bidisha Nandy

Theoretical Studiesof the Chemotaxis of Biological CellsVom Fachbereich Physikder Universit at Duisburg - Essen(Campus Duisburg)zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einesDoktors der Naturwissenschaftengenehmigte Dissertation vonBidisha NandyausKolkata, IndiaProf. Dr. Artur Baumg artnerReferent:Prof. Dr. Dietrich WolfKorreferent:Tag der mundlic hen Prufung: 17. M arz, 2008AbstractLiving organisms contain thousands of interacting complex networks of macromolecules,and there are very few tools to understand them. The present thesis is an attempt to elu-cidate some aspects of two interacting networks which are responsible for the coordinatedchemotactic locomotion of a cell. One of the networks, the directional sensing network,is responsible for the reception of external molecular signals to which the cell is exposed.This network also transforms the signal into an internal one (‘response’), whichis ampli ed and used by the the second network, the polarization network, to tune andto guide the cellular motor which propells the cell using its polymerizing cytoskeleton.A stochastic model, a type of cellular automata model, has been developed and employedin order to address various questions.