title: Modelling the compartmentalization of splicing factors.
abstract: Splicing factor (SF) compartments, also known as speckles, are heterogeneously distributed compartments within the nucleus of eukaryotic cells that are enriched in pre-mRNA SFs. We derive a fourth-order aggregation-diffusion model that describes a possible mechanism underlying the organization of SFs into speckles. The model incorporates two hypotheses, namely (1) that self-organization of dephosphorylated SFs, modulated by a phosphorylation-dephosphorylation cycle, is responsible for the formation and disappearance of speckles, and (2) that an underlying nuclear structure plays a major role in the organization of SFs. A linear stability analysis about homogeneous steady-state solutions of the model reveals how the self-interaction among dephosphorylated SFs can result in the onset of spatial patterns. A detailed bifurcation analysis of the model describes how phosphorylation and dephosphorylation modulate the onset of the compartmentalization of SFs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2G1.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carrero
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hendzel
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: de Vries
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002451:Cell Compartmentation / Q000502:physiology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008954:Models, Biological; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000502:physiology; D012326:RNA Splicing
chemical_list: D009687:Nuclear Proteins