Gene networks of fully connected triads with complete auto-activation enable multistability and stepwise stochastic transitions.

ABSTRACT: Fully-connected triads (FCTs), such as the Oct4-Sox2-Nanog triad, have been implicated as recurring transcriptional motifs embedded within the regulatory networks that specify and maintain cellular states. To explore the possible connections between FCT topologies and cell fate determinations, we employed computational network screening to search all possible FCT topologies for multistability, a dynamic property that allows the rise of alternate regulatory states from the same transcriptional network. The search yielded a hierarchy of FCTs with various potentials for multistability, including several topologies capable of reaching eight distinct stable states. Our analyses suggested that complete auto-activation is an effective indicator for multistability, and, when gene expression noise

SUBMITTER: Faucon PC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4109943 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature