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New Journal of Physics

  • Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft
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Deutsche Physikalische Gessellschaft IOP Institute of Physics

Reliable dynamics in Boolean and continuous networks

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Eva Ackermann1, Tiago P Peixoto2,3 and Barbara Drossel1

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Paper

We investigate the dynamical behavior of a model of robust gene regulatory networks which possess 'entirely reliable' trajectories. In a Boolean representation, these trajectories are characterized by being insensitive to the order in which the nodes are updated, i.e. they always go through the same sequence of states. The Boolean model for gene activity is compared with a continuous description in terms of differential equations for the concentrations of mRNA and proteins. We found that entirely reliable Boolean trajectories can be reproduced perfectly in the continuous model when realistic Hill coefficients are used. We investigate to what extent this high correspondence between Boolean and continuous trajectories depends on the extent of reliability of the Boolean trajectories, and we identify simple criteria that enable the faithful reproduction of the Boolean dynamics in the continuous description.

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Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

PACS

87.14.G- Nucleic acids

87.14.E- Proteins

02.30.Hq Ordinary differential equations

87.10.-e General theory and mathematical aspects

Subjects

Mathematical physics

Biological physics

Dates

Issue 12 (December 2012)

Received 2 October 2012

Published 18 December 2012

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  1. Reliable dynamics in Boolean and continuous networks

    Eva Ackermann et al 2012 New J. Phys. 14 123029

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