Coexistence of Hopf-born rotation and heteroclinic cycling in a time-delayed three-gene auto-regulated and mutually-repressed core genetic regulation network.

In this work, we study the behavior of a time-delayed mutually repressive auto-activating three-gene system. Delays are introduced to account for the location difference between DNA transcription that leads to production of messenger RNA and its translation that result in protein synthesis. We study the dynamics of the system using numerical simulations, computational bifurcation analysis and mathematical analysis.

Dynamic Analysis of the Time-Delayed Genetic Regulatory Network Between Two Auto-Regulated and Mutually Inhibitory Genes.

Time delays play important roles in genetic regulatory networks. In this paper, a gene regulatory network model with time delays and mutual inhibition is considered, where time delays are regarded as bifurcation parameters. In the first part of this paper, we analyze the associated characteristic equations and obtain the conditions for the stability of the system and the existence of Hopf bifurcations in five special cases.

Stability and Hopf bifurcation analysis in a delayed three-node circuit involving interlinked positive and negative feedback loops.

A system involving interlinked positive and negative feedback loops is a flexible motif that can tune itself in gene regulatory networks. It is well known that time delay is inevitable in gene regulatory networks due to transcription and translation not being physically co-located. In this paper, we systematically consider the effect of time delay on the dynamical behavior of the three-node circuit with three time delays.

The KRESCENT Program (2005-2015): An Evaluation of the State of Kidney Research Training in Canada.

Background: The Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training (KRESCENT) Program was launched in 2005 to enhance kidney research capacity in Canada and foster knowledge translation across the 4 themes of health research.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of KRESCENT on its major objectives and on the careers of trainees after its first 10 years.

Methods: An online survey of trainees (n = 53) who had completed or were enrolled in KRESCENT was conducted in 2015.

Subtle interplay of stochasticity and deterministic dynamics pervades an evolutionary plausible genetic circuit for Bacillus subtilis competence.

Here we study the interplay of stochastic and deterministic dynamics in an evolutionary plausible candidate core genetic circuit for Bacillus subtilis competence. We find that high noise would not necessarily be detrimental to the circuit's ability to deliver the phenotype, due to an unexpected built-in robustness that we further investigate. Also, we find that seemingly subtle deterministic dynamical features of the regulation, unstable and stable limit cycles, while in the presence of biochemical noise, would result in a distinctive new observable in the phenotype.

Point-cycle bistability and stochasticity in a regulatory circuit for Bacillus subtilis competence.

Bacillus subtilis is a very well-studied organism in biology. Recent results show that an evolutionary plausible alternative competence regulation circuit for this bacterium, despite presenting equivalent functionality, exhibits physiologically important differences. Thus, it is not a priori clear why Nature only selects a specific gene regulation circuit other than a plethora of equivalent others.

Architecture-dependent noise discriminates functionally analogous differentiation circuits.

Gene regulatory circuits with different architectures (patterns of regulatory interactions) can generate similar dynamics. This raises the question of why a particular circuit architecture is selected to implement a given cellular process. To investigate this problem, we compared the Bacillus subtilis circuit that regulates differentiation into the competence state to an engineered circuit with an alternative architecture (SynEx) in silico and in vivo.

A genetic timer through noise-induced stabilization of an unstable state.

Stochastic fluctuations affect the dynamics of biological systems. Typically, such noise causes perturbations that can permit genetic circuits to escape stable states, triggering, for example, phenotypic switching. In contrast, studies have shown that noise can surprisingly also generate new states, which exist solely in the presence of fluctuations.

Coordinate regulation of G protein signaling via dynamic interactions of receptor and GAP.

Signal output from receptor-G-protein-effector modules is a dynamic function of the nucleotide exchange activity of the receptor, the GTPase-accelerating activity of GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs), and their interactions. GAPs may inhibit steady-state signaling but may also accelerate deactivation upon removal of stimulus without significantly inhibiting output when the receptor is active. Further, some effectors (e.