Internal regulation of a modular system: the different faces of internal control

Bio Systems
A A van der Gugten, H V Westerhoff

Abstract

The living cell houses a multitude of molecular processes that operate simultaneously in a mutually consistent fashion. A certain degree of organization stands out, e.g. in terms of the various metabolic pathways, transcription versus translation, signal transduction versus metabolism. This paper shows that by taking one of the aforementioned organizational principles into account, the complexity of understanding cell function quantitatively may be reduced significantly. To this aim the definition of the corresponding type of organization is refined and the conceptual tools used in the analysis of the control of cell function are adjusted. The approach is elaborated for a theoretical model of cell function, in which the latter depends on a constellation of interdependent but unconnected modules. The organization of a system is reduced to global control within a limited set of partaking modules and the links between them. Information about the systems total internal control and regulability is then drastically reduced to the information specifying global control and the regulability of the pathways that constitute the system. It is shown quantitatively how control at a lower level of organization bears on the control of the cell...Continue Reading

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Citations

Feb 24, 2001·Journal of Theoretical Biology·J H Hofmeyr, H V Westerhoff
Sep 25, 2010·Biochemical Society Transactions·Hans V WesterhoffBarbara M Bakker

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