Spike patterns in a reaction-diffusion-ode model with Turing instability

Abstract

We explore a mechanism of pattern formation arising in processes described by a system of a single reaction-diffusion equation coupled with ordinary differential equations. Such systems of equations arise from the modeling of interactions between cellular processes and diffusing growth factors. We focused on the model of early carcinogenesis proposed by Marciniak-Czochra and Kimmel, which is an example of a wider class of pattern formation models with an autocatalytic non-diffusing component. We present a numerical study showing emergence of periodic and irregular spike patterns due to diffusion-driven instability. To control the accuracy of simulations, we develop a numerical code based on the finite element method and adaptive mesh. Simulations, supplemented by numerical analysis, indicate a novel pattern formation phenomenon based on the emergence of nonstationary structures tending asymptotically to the sum of Dirac deltas.