The ups and downs of biological timers.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The need to execute a sequence of events in an orderly and timely manner is central to many biological processes, including cell cycle progression and cell differentiation. For self-perpetuating systems, such as the cell cycle oscillator, delay times between events are defined by the network of interacting proteins that propagates the system. However, protein levels inside cells are subject to genetic and environmental fluctuations, raising the question of how reliable timing is maintained.

Results

We compared the robustness of different mechanisms for encoding delay times to fluctuations in protein expression levels. Gradual accumulation and gradual decay of a regulatory protein have an equivalent capacity for defining delay times. Yet, we find that the former is

SUBMITTER: Rappaport N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1208956 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature