Adaptive gene regulatory networks

Abstract

Regulatory interactions between genes show a large amount of cross-species variability, even when the underlying functions are conserved: There are many ways to achieve the same function. Here we investigate the ability of regulatory networks to reproduce given expression levels within a simple model of gene regulation. We find an exponentially large space of regulatory networks compatible with a given set of expression levels, giving rise to an extensive entropy of networks. Typical realisations of regulatory networks are found to share a bias towards symmetric interactions, in line with empirical evidence.

5 pages RevTex

References in corpus (2)

• Patterns of link reciprocity in directed networks
• Function Constrains Network Architecture and Dynamics: A Case Study on the Yeast Cell Cycle Boolean Network

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Regulatory networks and connected components of the neutral space
• Evolution of regulatory networks towards adaptability and stability in a changing environment