Fig. 2

Embedding heterogeneous mitochondrial population in cell. a Schematic of multi-scale model embedding an ODE signaling network for each of the 100 mitochondria within an agent-based model (ABM). The full system size approximates a single cell (20 x 20 grid each assumed to be 1 μm x 1 μm to approximate a single mitochondrion), incorporating inter-organelle communication (ROS) by diffusion, as well as organelle dynamics by random motion, to explore impact of subcellular heterogeneities on cell-to-cell variability (see Additional file 2: Figure S2 for more details). b Schematic illustrating the timing rules for intra-, inter-mitochondrial and environmental updates. During mitochondrial ODE updates (every second agent-based time step) each mitochondrion’s ODEs are seeded with information from the local environment and previously stored content values, with any state changes evaluated at the end of the current time step. For agent-based time steps, environmental and mitochondrial movements are updated (see Additional file 2: Figure S2 for more details)