Hypotheses

The biphasic behavior of incoherent feed-forward loops in biomolecular regulatory networks

  1. Dongsan Kim1,
  2. Yung-Keun Kwon2,
  3. Kwang-Hyun Cho1,*

Article first published online: 20 OCT 2008

DOI: 10.1002/bies.20839

Issue

BioEssays

BioEssays

Volume 30, Issue 11-12, pages 1204–1211, November - December 2008

Additional Information

How to Cite

Kim, D., Kwon, Y.-K. and Cho, K.-H. (2008), The biphasic behavior of incoherent feed-forward loops in biomolecular regulatory networks. Bioessays, 30: 1204–1211. doi: 10.1002/bies.20839

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Bio and Brain Engineering and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Daejeon, Republic of Korea

  2. 2

    School of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Ulsan, Republic of Korea

*Department of Bio and Brain Engineering and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) 335 Gwahangno, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 20 OCT 2008
  2. Article first published online: 20 OCT 2008

Funded by

  • Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) grant
  • Korea Ministry of Education, Science & Technology through the Systems Biology grant. Grant Number: M10503010001-07N030100112
  • The Nuclear Research Grant. Grant Number: M20708000001-07B0800-00110
  • The 21C Frontier Microbial Genomics and Application Center Program. Grant Number: MG08-0205-4-0

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Abstract

An incoherent feed-forward loop (FFL) is one of the most-frequently observed motifs in biomolecular regulatory networks. It has been thought that the incoherent FFL is designed simply to induce a transient response shaped by a ‘fast activation and delayed inhibition’. We find that the dynamics of various incoherent FFLs can be further classified into two types: time-dependent biphasic responses and dose-dependent biphasic responses. Why do the structurally identical incoherent FFLs play such different dynamical roles? Through computational studies, we show that the dynamics of the two types of incoherent FFLs are mutually exclusive. Following from further computational results and experimental observations, we hypothesize that incoherent FFLs have been optimally designed to achieve distinct biological function arising from different cellular contexts. Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of the article. BioEssays 30:1204–1211, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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