Roles of regulated internalization in the polarization of cell surface receptors.

Abstract

Cell polarization, the generation of cellular asymmetries, is a fundamental biological process. Polarity of different molecules can arise through several mechanisms. Among these, internalization has been shown to play an important role in the polarization of cell surface receptors. The internalization of cell surface receptors can be upregulated upon ligand binding. Additional regulatory mechanism can downregulate the internalization process. Here we describe a general model, which incorporates these two opposing processes, to study the role of internalization in the establishment of cell polarity. We find that the competition between these two processes is sufficient to induce receptor polarization. Our results show that regulated internalization provides additional regulation on polarization as well. In addition, we discuss applications of our model to the yeast system, which shows the capability and potential of the model.