Search

Cell polarity is an important phenomenon in a multitude of cellular and developmental processes. The cellular contexts that polarity occurs in include a wide array of morphological properties such as size, shape, and growth. An important, conserved system of cell polarity depends on the intracellular localisation of proteins that act as diffusive molecular switches. Since the localisation of these proteins depends on their reactive and diffusive properties, cell size and growth may alter polarity induced by localisation. My work contributes extensive analyses of an established protein localisation model under extreme morphological conditions such as extremely small and rapidly growing cells. My work also uncovers non-trivial, biologically relevant behaviour caused by the inclusion of these morphological properties and further discusses the mechanisms underlying the observed behaviour. In addition, I contribute and discuss a novel computational tool that can continue to aid the research community in understanding cell polarity under extreme morphological conditions.