Oscillations and temporal signalling in cells

Abstract

The development of new techniques to quantitatively measure gene expression in cells has shed light on a number of systems that display oscillations in protein concentration. Here we review the different mechanisms which can produce oscillations in gene expression or protein concentration, using a framework of simple mathematical models. We focus on three eukaryotic genetic regulatory networks which show "ultradian" oscillations, with time period of the order of hours, and involve, respectively, proteins important for development (Hes1), apoptosis (p53) and immune response (NFkB). We argue that underlying all three is a common design consisting of a negative feedback loop with time delay which is responsible for the oscillatory behaviour.

References in corpus (4)

• Spiky oscillations in NF-kB signalling
• Oscillation patterns in negative feedback loops
• Time delay as a key to Apoptosis Induction in the p53 Network
• A Dynamic P53-MDM2 Model with Time Delay

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• Inherent directionality explains the lack of feedback loops in empirical networks
• Switching between oscillations and homeostasis in competing negative and positive feedback motifs
• Symbolic dynamics of biological feedback networks
• Self-Sustained Collective Oscillation Generated in an Array of Non-Oscillatory Cells