Intrinsic limits to gene regulation by global crosstalk.

ABSTRACT: Gene regulation relies on the specificity of transcription factor (TF)-DNA interactions. Limited specificity may lead to crosstalk: a regulatory state in which a gene is either incorrectly activated due to noncognate TF-DNA interactions or remains erroneously inactive. As each TF can have numerous interactions with noncognate cis-regulatory elements, crosstalk is inherently a global problem, yet has previously not been studied as such. We construct a theoretical framework to analyse the effects of global crosstalk on gene regulation. We find that crosstalk presents a significant challenge for organisms with low-specificity TFs, such as metazoans. Crosstalk is not easily mitigated by known regulatory schemes acting at equilibrium, including variants of cooperativity and combinatorial regula

SUBMITTER: Friedlander T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4976215 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature