Scaling relations for auxin waves

Bakker, B.H.; Faver, T.E.; Hupkes, H.J.; Merks, R.M.H.; Voort, J. van der (2022)

Article / Letter to editor

We analyze an 'up-the-gradient' model for the formation of transport channels of the phytohormone auxin, through auxin-mediated polarization of the PIN1 auxin transporter. We show that this model admits a family of travelling wave solutions that is parameterized by the height of the auxin-pulse. We uncover scaling relations for the speed and width of these waves and verify these rigorous results with numerical computations. In addition, we provide explicit expressions for the leading-order wave profiles, which allows the influence of the biological parameters in the problem to be readily identified. Our proofs are based on a generalization of the scaling principle developed by Friesecke and Pego to construct pulse solutions to the classic Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou model, which describes a one-dimensional chain of coupled nonlinear springs.

• All authors: Bakker, B.H.; Faver, T.E.; Hupkes, H.J.; Merks, R.M.H.; Voort, J. van der
• Date: 2022-09-26
• Journal: Journal of Mathematical Biology
• Volume: 85
• Issue: 4
• DOI: doi:10.1007/s00285-022-01793-5