Stability depends on positive autoregulation in Boolean gene regulatory networks.

ABSTRACT: Network motifs have been identified as building blocks of regulatory networks, including gene regulatory networks (GRNs). The most basic motif, autoregulation, has been associated with bistability (when positive) and with homeostasis and robustness to noise (when negative), but its general importance in network behavior is poorly understood. Moreover, how specific autoregulatory motifs are selected during evolution and how this relates to robustness is largely unknown. Here, we used a class of GRN models, Boolean networks, to investigate the relationship between autoregulation and network stability and robustness under various conditions. We ran evolutionary simulation experiments for different models of selection, including mutation and recombination. Each generation simulated the develop

SUBMITTER: Pinho R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4222607 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature