Abstract
We investigate diffusive search on planar networks, motivated by tubular networks in cell biology that contain molecules searching for reaction partners and binding sites. Exact calculation of the diffusive mean first-passage time on a spatial network is used to characterize the typical search time as a function of network connectivity. We find that global structural properties — the total edge length and number of loops — are sufficient to largely determine network exploration times for both synthetic planar networks and for organelle morphologies extracted from living cells. This suggests that network architecture can be designed for efficient search without controlling the precise arrangement of connections. Specifically, increasing the number of loops substantially decreases search times, pointing to a potential physical mechanism for regulating reaction rates within organelle network structures.
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URL
https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.05320