Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
11-2010
Abstract
A general branching process model is proposed to describe the shortening of telomeres in eukaryotic chromosomes. The model is flexible and incorporates many special cases to be found in the literature. In particular, we show how telomere shortening can give rise to sigmoidal growth curves, an idea first expressed by Portugal et al. [A computational model for telomere-dependent cell-replicative aging, BioSystems 91 (2008), pp. 262–267]. We also demonstrate how other types of growth curves arise if telomere shortening is mitigated by other cellular processes. We compare our results with published data sets from the biological literature.
Identifier
10.1080/17513750903377442
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Group
Repository Citation
Oloffson, P. (2010). Can telomere shortening explain sigmoidal growth curves? Journal of Biological Dynamics, 4(6), 527-538. doi: 10.1080/17513750903377442
Publication Information
Journal of Biological Dynamics