Heterodimer Autorepression Loop: A Robust and Flexible Pulse-Generating Genetic Module
B. Lannoo, E. Carlon and M. Lefranc
Physical Review Letters 117, 018102 (2016) [Accès à la revue]
We investigate the dynamics of a minimal genetic circuit that generates robust pulses with tunable frequency, which may be relevant to cellular signaling.
Abstract: We investigate the dynamics of the heterodimer autorepression loop (HAL), a small genetic module in which a protein A acts as an autorepressor and binds to a second protein B to form an AB dimer. For suitable values of the rate constants, the HAL produces pulses of A alternating with pulses of B. By means of analytical and numerical calculations, we show that the duration of A pulses is extremely robust against variation of the rate constants while the duration of the B pulses can be flexibly adjusted. The HAL is thus a minimal genetic module generating robust pulses with a tunable duration, an interesting property for cellular signaling.
Thème : Modélisation et dynamique