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From 2012.igem.org

Model using Ordinary Differential Equations(ODE)

Overview

The first model we developed represents the tadpole as a three compartment system:

1. The skin that produces (or receives) auxins;
2. The blood that transport auxins to the organs;
3. The organs (called receptors) that interacts with auxin molecules.

The parallel with (electrical) engineering is made easy: the skin represents a generator that will add a quantity to the system; The blood represents wires, that convey this quantity throughout the system; Finally the organs are the sinks that use the quantity to work.

This very idealized view of the tadpoles allows to make some interesting simplifications: The processes happening in the system can be approximated using Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE), one of the simplest form of differential equations; Plus, the organs repartition and shape are not taken into account.

This over-simplication of the problem causes the model to give very imprecise quantitative results but its strength is in allowing us to make some qualitative predictions about the success or failure of some experiments.

Hypothesis

There are the different hypothesis we were constrained to make in order to model the system:

1. The auxin concentration inside a compartment is homogeneous
2. No auxins can go from the skin directly to the organs./li>
3. The auxin flow follows the concentration gradient between compartmens.

Model description

Equations

Geometry

Limit conditions

Calibration

Results

Conclusion

References