Dresden 2006 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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AKB: Biologische Physik
AKB 30: Poster Session I
AKB 30.8: Poster
Montag, 27. März 2006, 15:30–18:00, P1
A genetic circuit that memorizes a signal on command — •Georg Fritz1,2, Nicholas E. Buchler3, Terence Hwa4, and Ulrich Gerland1 — 1Department of Physics and CeNS, LMU München, Theresienstrasse 37, 80333 München, Germany — 2Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Strasse 3, 79104 Freiburg, Germany — 3Center for Studies in Physics and Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021 — 4Physics Department and Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0374
While a detailed understanding of large genetic networks is still beyond reach, small genetic circuits consisting of only a few interacting genes are amenable to explicit characterization, both experimentally and theoretically. A paradigmatic example is the genetic toggle switch, which Gardner et al. constructed in E. coli [1]. It consists of two mutually repressing genes and displays the functional trademark ‘bistability’. In principle, a bistable device can function as a memory. However, it would be useful for the cell only if it can store a signal on command, in order to memorize e.g. the state of its environment during its last cell division. To achieve this desirable property, we propose an extension of the genetic toggle switch, which could be realized experimentally through the addition of two well-characterized proteins. We characterize the resulting gene circuit theoretically, using both deterministic and stochastic models. We discuss its functional properties for typical experimental parameters of bacterial genes and proteins.
[1] T.S. Gardner et al., Nature 403, 339 (2000)