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NJIT Mathematical Biology Seminar

Tuesday, January 26, 2010, 2:30pm
Cullimore Hall 611
New Jersey Institute of Technology

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Kinetics of Calcium+2, Cadherin and Adherens Junctions

Fatima Elgammal & Zehra Sadiq

UBM Program - New Jersey Institute of Technology

Adhesion between cells form from an interaction of molecules on the surface of the plasma membrane. Cadherin proteins are an example of transmembrane proteins that form such adhesions with the aid of calcium ions. Calcium ions bind to the extracellular domain of the cadherin proteins of interacting cells in order to form a cellular junction, which we call adherens junctions. This junction is maintained through the dimerization of E-cadherin molecules. Upon removal of calcium, this dimer formation is lost, dissembling the cell junctions. For the calcium-switch experiments, IAR2 cells were cultured and later placed in media with EGTA (a calcium chelator) for fixed time, then subsequently placed in regular media for varying lengths of time. Images taken from the fixed slides show that cells which are placed longer in regular media after exposure to EGTA have less distance between them and eventually form junctions. Assuming a number of properties, stated later in this paper, we illustrate a simplified version of this phenomena through a system of ordinary differential equations, which demonstrate the kinetics between calcium ion concentration, cadherin, and junction formation.