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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Nov 17.
Published in final edited form as: ACS Synth Biol. 2017 Aug 15;6(11):2056–2066. doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.7b00077

Figure 2. A toggle switch with diffusion can generate prolonged boundary formations.

Figure 2

(A)–(D): Simulations of system (1,4) with parameters D = .001mm2/min, γ = .5 min−1, α = 10nM/min, A0 = 100nM, μ = 5mm−1, and σ = .5 nM. (A) Illustration of initial conditions. (B) Simulation with L = .5mm. (C) Spatial profiles of u and v at time t = 1000 min for L = .5mm. (D) Simulations showing boundary formations are transient by extending the simulation time. (E)–(F): We study the effects of the domain length L and the standard deviation σ in the random initial conditions (4) on the time t = t* required to reach a homogeneous state. We run 50 simulations for each condition and calculate the average t*, μ(t*), and standard deviation σt* . (E) Plot of average time μ(t*) until spatial homogeneity is achieved. We normalize by 100 min and apply a logarithmic transformation. (F) Plot of corresponding coefficient of variation σt*(t*).