The emergence of spatial patterns for compartmental reaction kinetics coupled by two bulk diffusing species with comparable diffusivities

Abstract

Originating from the pioneering study of Alan Turing, the bifurcation analysis predicting spatial pattern formation from a spatially uniform state for diffusing morphogens or chemical species that interact through nonlinear reactions is a central problem in many chemical and biological systems. From a mathematical viewpoint, one key challenge with this theory for two component systems is that stable spatial patterns can typically only occur from a spatially uniform state when a slowly diffusing ‘activator’ species reacts with a much faster diffusing ‘inhibitor’ species. However, from a modelling perspective, this large diffusivity ratio requirement for pattern formation is often unrealistic in biological settings since different molecules tend to diffuse with similar rates in extracellular spaces. As a result, one key long-standing question is how to robustly obtain pattern formation in the biologically realistic case where the time scales for diffusion of the interacting species are comparable. For a coupled one-dimensional bulk-compartment theoretical model, we investigate the emergence of spatial patterns for the scenario where two bulk diffusing species with comparable diffusivities are coupled to nonlinear reactions that occur only in localized ‘compartments’, such as on the boundaries of a one-dimensional domain. The exchange between the bulk medium and the spatially localized compartments is modelled by a Robin boundary condition with certain binding rates. As regulated by these binding rates, we show for various specific nonlinearities that our one-dimensional coupled PDE-ODE model admits symmetry-breaking bifurcations, leading to linearly stable asymmetric steady-state patterns, even when the bulk diffusing species have equal diffusivities. Depending on the form of the nonlinear kinetics, oscillatory instabilities can also be triggered. Moreover, the analysis is extended to treat a periodic chain of compartments. This article is part of the theme issue ‘New trends in pattern formation and nonlinear dynamics of extended systems’.