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An Optogenetic Method to Control and Analyze Gene Expression Patterns in Cell-to-cell Interactions
Published on: March 22, 2018
The incoherent feedforward loop can provide fold-change detection in gene regulation
Lea Goentoro1, Oren Shoval, Marc W Kirschner
1Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Molecular Cell
|December 17, 2009
Summary
Cellular systems can detect fold-change in signals, similar to sensory systems. We show theoretically that the incoherent feedforward loop (I1-FFL) in gene regulation can achieve this fold-change detection.
Area of Science:
- Systems Biology
- Molecular Biology
- Biophysics
Background:
- Sensory systems exhibit Weber's Law, responding to stimulus fold-change.
- Cellular signaling may also feature fold-change detection, independent of absolute signal levels.
- Understanding molecular mechanisms for this cellular feature is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate molecular mechanisms for fold-change detection in gene regulation.
- To determine if common gene regulatory network motifs can implement fold-change detection.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of gene regulatory network motifs.
- Mathematical modeling of biochemical reaction networks.
Main Results:
- The incoherent feedforward loop (I1-FFL) motif was theoretically shown to perform fold-change detection.
- This feature applies to the response amplitude and duration.
- The I1-FFL's fold-change detection is robust across a wide range of biochemical parameters.
Conclusions:
- The incoherent feedforward loop is a viable molecular mechanism for cellular fold-change detection.
- This finding provides insight into how cells process information robustly.
- Fold-change detection in gene regulation has implications for understanding cellular responses to stimuli.
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