Patterning of nonlocal transport models in biology: the impact of spatial dimension

TL;DR

This paper extends the analysis of nonlocal transport models in biology from one to higher spatial dimensions, revealing how pattern formation depends on dimension and interaction type, with implications for biological phenomena like zebrafish stripe formation.

Contribution

The study generalizes pattern formation analysis of nonlocal models from 1D to higher dimensions, uncovering dimension-dependent behaviors and conditions for pattern emergence in biological systems.

Findings

Pattern formation occurs only in dimensions higher than one for certain nonlocal models.

Complex spatio-temporal patterns, spots, and stripes emerge depending on interactions.

Pattern formation capacity fundamentally changes with spatial dimension in nonlocal models.

Abstract

Throughout developmental biology and ecology, transport can be driven by nonlocal interactions. Examples include cells that migrate based on contact with pseudopodia extended from other cells, and animals that move based on their vision of other animals. Nonlocal integro-PDE models have been used to investigate contact attraction and repulsion in cell populations in 1D. In this paper, we generalise the analysis of pattern formation in such a model from 1D to higher spatial dimensions. Numerical simulations in 2D demonstrate complex behaviour in the model, including spatio-temporal patterns, multi-stability, and the selection of spots or stripes heavily depending on interactions being attractive or repulsive. Through linear stability analysis in $N$ dimensions, we demonstrate how, unlike in local Turing reaction-diffusion models, the capacity for pattern formation fundamentally changes with dimensionality for this nonlocal model. Most notably, pattern formation is possible only in higher than one spatial dimension for both the single species system with repulsive interactions, and the two species system with `run-and-chase' interactions. The latter case may be relevant to zebrafish stripe formation, which has been shown to be driven by run-and-chase dynamics between melanophore and xanthophore pigment cells.