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09:42
Unraveling Entropic Rate Acceleration Induced by Solvent Dynamics in Membrane Enzymes
Published on: January 16, 2016
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Kinetic memory based on the enzyme-limited competition.
Tetsuhiro S Hatakeyama1, Kunihiko Kaneko1
1Department of Basic Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Plos Computational Biology
|August 15, 2014
Summary
This study introduces "kinetic memory" for cellular memory, proposing that cells retain environmental information through slow, long-term relaxation processes rather than stable states. This mechanism explains how cells remember past stimuli, impacting functions like synaptic plasticity.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Cell Biology
- Systems Biology
Background:
- Cellular memory is crucial for adaptation, differentiation, and synaptic plasticity.
- Existing models often focus on posttranslational modifications, but mechanisms remain unclear.
- Multistability models struggle to explain long-term relaxation observed in protein modifications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and investigate
- kinetic memory
- as an alternative mechanism for epigenetic cellular memory.
- To explore how slow relaxation processes, rather than stable states, can store environmental information.
- To demonstrate the role of enzyme-limited reactions in establishing kinetic memory.
Main Methods:
- Modeling of multimeric protein catalytic modifications (e.g., phosphorylation, methylation).
- Analysis of dynamical systems far from stable fixed states.
- Simulations of enzyme-limited competition in modification reactions.
Main Results:
- A slow, logarithmic-in-time relaxation process was observed when enzyme concentration is lower than substrate concentration.
- Sharp transitions between fast and slow relaxation phases were identified.
- The slow relaxation process demonstrated memory of past environmental stimuli, dependent on stimulus history.
Conclusions:
- Kinetic memory, based on slow relaxation, offers a novel framework for understanding cellular memory.
- This mechanism provides insight into long-term maintenance of cellular states.
- Potential applications include explaining long-term potentiation and related synaptic plasticity mechanisms.
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