Search results for "Molecular network"

An early Ca2+ influx is a prerequisite to thaxtomin A-induced cell death in Arabidopsis thaliana cells

2008

International audience; The pathogenicity of various Streptomyces scabies isolates involved in potato scab disease was correlated with the production of thaxtomin A. Since calcium is known as an essential second messenger associated with pathogen-induced plant responses and cell death, it was investigated whether thaxtomin A could induce a Ca 2+ influx related to cell death and to other putative plant responses using Arabidopsis thaliana suspension cells, which is a convenient model to study plant–microbe interactions. A. thaliana cells were treated with micromolar concentrations of thaxto-min A. Cell death was quantified and ion flux variations were analysed from electrophysiological measu…

Photocage-initiated time-resolved solution X-ray scattering investigation of protein dimerization

2018

Photocaging in combination with X-ray solution scattering allows for the time-resolved study of protein dynamics in solution. This method is versatile and allows for accurate triggering of protein function.

MicroRNA Intercellular Transfer and Bioelectrical Regulation of Model Multicellular Ensembles by the Gap Junction Connectivity.

2017

We have studied theoretically the microRNA (miRNA) intercellular transfer through voltage-gated gap junctions in terms of a biophysically grounded system of coupled differential equations. Instead of modeling a specific system, we use a general approach describing the interplay between the genetic mechanisms and the single-cell electric potentials. The dynamics of the multicellular ensemble are simulated under different conditions including spatially inhomogeneous transcription rates and local intercellular transfer of miRNAs. These processes result in spatiotemporal changes of miRNA, mRNA, and ion channel protein concentrations that eventually modify the bioelectrical states of small multi…

Multiple steady states and the form of response functions to antigen in a model for the initiation of T cell activation

2017

The aim of this paper is to study the qualitative behaviour predicted by a mathematical model for the initial stage of T-cell activation. The state variables in the model are the concentrations of phosphorylation states of the T-cell receptor (TCR) complex and the phosphatase SHP-1 in the cell. It is shown that these quantities cannot approach zero and that the model possesses more than one positive steady state for certain values of the parameters. It can also exhibit damped oscillations. It is proved that the chemical concentration which represents the degree of activation of the cell, that of the maximally phosphorylated form of the TCR complex, is, in general, a non-monotone function of…

Gene-based and semantic structure of the Gene Ontology as a complex network

2012

The last decade has seen the advent and consolidation of ontology based tools for the identification and biological interpretation of classes of genes, such as the Gene Ontology. The information accumulated time-by-time and included in the GO is encoded in the definition of terms and in the setting up of semantic relations amongst terms. This approach might be usefully complemented by a bottom-up approach based on the knowledge of relationships amongst genes. To this end, we investigate the Gene Ontology from a complex network perspective. We consider the semantic network of terms naturally associated with the semantic relationships provided by the Gene Ontology consortium and a gene-based …

Sustained oscillations in the MAP kinase cascade.

2016

Abstract The MAP kinase cascade is a network of enzymatic reactions arranged in layers. In each layer occurs a multiple futile cycle of phosphorylations. The fully phosphorylated substrate then serves as an enzyme for the layer below. This paper focuses on the existence of parameters for which Hopf bifurcations occur and generate periodic orbits. Furthermore it is explained how geometric singular perturbation theory allows to generalize results from simple models to more complex ones.

Identification of control targets in Boolean molecular network models via computational algebra

2015

Motivation: Many problems in biomedicine and other areas of the life sciences can be characterized as control problems, with the goal of finding strategies to change a disease or otherwise undesirable state of a biological system into another, more desirable, state through an intervention, such as a drug or other therapeutic treatment. The identification of such strategies is typically based on a mathematical model of the process to be altered through targeted control inputs. This paper focuses on processes at the molecular level that determine the state of an individual cell, involving signaling or gene regulation. The mathematical model type considered is that of Boolean networks. The pot…

Networks Describing Dynamical Systems

2018

Abstract We consider systems of ordinary differential equations that arise in the theory of gene regulatory networks. These systems can be of arbitrary size but of definite structure that depends on the choice of regulatory matrices. Attractors play the decisive role in behaviour of elements of such systems. We study the structure of simple attractors that consist of a number of critical points for several choices of regulatory matrices.

Templating: Substrate Templating upon Self-Assembly of Hydrogen-Bonded Molecular Networks on an Insulating Surface (Small 19/2012)

2012

Hybrid Materials Formed by Two Molecular Networks. Towards Multiproperty Materials

1999

Abstract The possibilities offered by hybrid materials formed by two molecular networks in the context of the molecular magnets are illustrated. Molecule-based layered magnets are used as anionic hosts for electroactive molecules, with the aim of obtaining multiproperty materials exhibiting in addition to the cooperative magnetism other interesting properties according to the nature of the inserted molecules. In particular, hybrid molecular compounds containing molecular species giving rise to paramagnetic, conducting, or bi-stable properties are reported.