Berlin 2008 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 20: Regulation and Signaling

BP 20.2: Invited Talk

Thursday, February 28, 2008, 10:00–10:30, C 243

Non-equilibrium dynamics of gene expression — •Johannes Berg — Institute for Theoretical Physics, Cologne University, Zülpicher Str.77, 50937 Köln

The dynamics of gene expression is characterized by two key elements: (i) The transcription of genes is driven by transcription factor molecules. The number of transcription factors present in a cell changes constantly, keeping the system out of equilibrium. (ii) The transcription of a gene involves a small number of molecules, leading to a noisy dynamics marked by large fluctuations.

In this talk I discuss a simple mapping between models of gene expression and stochastic systems driven out of equilibrium. Using this mapping, results of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics such as the Jarzynski equality and the fluctuation theorem are demonstrated for gene expression dynamics. Applications of this non-equilibrium approach include the determination of mRNA degradation rates and regulatory interactions between genes from experimental gene expression data.