A dynamical model of genetic networks for cell differentiation.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 21464974.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0017703 and PMC identifier 3060813.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
A mathematical model is proposed which is able to describe the most important features of cell differentiation, without requiring specific detailed assumptions concerning the interactions which drive the phenomenon. On the contrary, cell differentiation is described here as an emergent property of a generic model of the underlying gene regulatory network, and it can therefore be applied to a variety of different organisms. The model points to a peculiar role of cellular noise in differentiation and leads to non trivial predictions which could be subject to experimental testing. Moreover, a single model proves able to describe several different phenomena observed in various differentiation processes.
Medical subject headings
- Cell Differentiation
- Gene Regulatory Networks
- Models, Genetic