Architecture and inherent robustness of a bacterial cell-cycle control system.

ABSTRACT: A closed-loop control system drives progression of the coupled stalked and swarmer cell cycles of the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus in a near-mechanical step-like fashion. The cell-cycle control has a cyclical genetic circuit composed of four regulatory proteins with tight coupling to processive chromosome replication and cell division subsystems. We report a hybrid simulation of the coupled cell-cycle control system, including asymmetric cell division and responses to external starvation signals, that replicates mRNA and protein concentration patterns and is consistent with observed mutant phenotypes. An asynchronous sequential digital circuit model equivalent to the validated simulation model was created. Formal model-checking analysis of the digital circuit showed that the cell-cycle

SUBMITTER: Shen X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2516238 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature