Dresden 2006 – scientific programme

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AKSOE: Physik sozio-ökonomischer Systeme

AKSOE 10: Poster Session (posters are expected to be displayed the full day 8:30-18:00)

AKSOE 10.55: Poster

Wednesday, March 29, 2006, 16:00–18:00, P2

Evolutionary Design of Robust Signal Transduction Networks — •Pablo Kaluza and Alexander S. Mikhailov — Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Signal transduction networks of a living cell can retain their functions despite noise and mutations. This suggests that their architecture is optimized in the process of biological evolution not only with respect to a particular function, but also to increase their robustness. In our theoretical study, a toy pipeline model of transduction networks is considered. By running an artificial evolution process, we design robust functional networks with predefined, randomly generated response patterns. The robustness of a network, optimized during its evolution, is estimated as the fraction of all test mutations leaving the response within a certain tolerance window. The signal transduction networks which are robust with respect to deletion of either a single node or of a single link are thus constructed. In an extension of this study, we design transduction networks that are robust with respect to static noise, modelled as random variations of connection weights. The statistical analysis of a large ensemble of designed functional networks allows us to detect characteristic features of the network architecture, implied by the robustness with respect to noise and various mutations.