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AKB: Biologische Physik

AKB 50: Poster Session "Biological Physics"

AKB 50.109: Poster

Freitag, 12. März 2004, 10:30–13:00, B

Asynchronous networks of switches and the reliability of gene regulation — •Konstantin Klemm and Stefan Bornholdt — Interdiszplinäres Zentrum für Bioinformatik, Universität Leipzig, Kreuzstr. 7b, 04103 Leipzig

How do networks of regulatory genes function in a near deterministic way, although they consist of mostly autonomous non-synchronized switches? This is studied using a network of asymmetrically coupled binary threshold units with asynchronous serial update in random order. Motivated by the biochemical processes during gene regulation involving mRNA and protein, each unit updates its state according to an individual clock that is subject to noise. In general, this asynchronous mode leads to stochastic, non-deterministic system behavior. However, considering a transmission delay between the nodes leads to synchronization and ordering of the dynamics: On a coarse grained time scale, units switch simultaneously. These results suggest that transmission delay may contribute to the robustness of genetic regulation. Further, as some topological features are more favorable than others for this effect, it hints at a possible explanation of why some topological motifs, in particular loops, are suppressed in the wiring of genetic networks.

[1] Konstantin Klemm and Stefan Bornholdt, preprint http://www.arXiv.org/abs/q-bio/0309013