Self-similar dynamics of morphogen gradients. Author Cyrill Muratov, Peter Gordon V, Stanislav Shvartsman Publication Year 2011 Type Journal Article Abstract Morphogen gradients are concentration fields of molecules acting as spatial regulators of cell differentiation in developing tissues and play a fundamental role in various aspects of embryonic development. We discovered a family of self-similar solutions in a canonical class of nonlinear reaction-diffusion models describing the formation of morphogen gradients. These solutions are realized in the limit of infinitely high production rate at the tissue boundary and are given by the product of the steady state concentration profile and a function of the diffusion similarity variable. We solved the boundary value problem for the similarity profile numerically and analyzed the implications of the discovered self-similarity on the dynamics of morphogenetic patterning. Keywords Models, Biological, Morphogenesis, Computer Simulation, Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins Journal Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys Volume 84 Issue 4 Pt 1 Pages 041916 Date Published 10/2011 Alternate Journal Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys Google ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML