Numerical bifurcation analysis of the pattern formation in a cell based auxin transport model (Q378312)

The papers is concerned with the analysis of steady state solutions of a transport model of growth hormones that can be used to describe the hormone accumulations which occur in plant organs. The present study is based on a modification of the hormone transport model suggested by \textit{R. S. Smith} et al. [``A plausible model of phyllotaxis'', Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103, 1301--1306 (2006; \url{doi:10.1073/pnas.0510457103})]. Contrary to the original model where the domain roughly correlates to a ring of cells around an axial plant organ, in the paper under review a linear row of cells running from the margin to the midvein of the leaf is considered. This change is described using homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions instead of periodic boundary conditions; zero fluxes at the boundary of the leaf are considered. Using numerical continuation methods and bifurcation analysis, the authors look for steady state solutions as a functions of three of the model parameters. Bifurcation analysis reveals the relation between the stability of a solution and the model parameters, whereas continuation methods allow to compute approximate solutions as functions of model parameters. The trivial solution is considered in the case where the concentrations of hormones are equal in all cells; its stability region is examined. Two generic bifurcation scenarios through which the trivial solution looses stability are identified.