Wolf Denise M, Arkin Adam P
Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 1 Cyclotron Road, MS 3-144, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2003 Apr;6(2):125-34. doi: 10.1016/s1369-5274(03)00033-x.
Global explorations of regulatory network dynamics, organization and evolution have become tractable thanks to high-throughput sequencing and molecular measurement of bacterial physiology. From these, a nascent conceptual framework is developing, that views the principles of regulation in term of motifs, modules and games. Motifs are small, repeated, and conserved biological units ranging from molecular domains to small reaction networks. They are arranged into functional modules, genetically dissectible cellular functions such as the cell cycle, or different stress responses. The dynamical functioning of modules defines the organism's strategy to survive in a game, pitting cell against cell, and cell against environment. Placing pathway structure and dynamics into an evolutionary context begins to allow discrimination between those physical and molecular features that particularize a species to its surroundings, and those that provide core physiological function. This approach promises to generate a higher level understanding of cellular design, pathway evolution and cellular bioengineering.
由于细菌生理学的高通量测序和分子测量，对调控网络动力学、组织和进化的全球探索已变得易于处理。据此，一个新兴的概念框架正在形成，该框架从基序、模块和博弈的角度看待调控原理。基序是从分子结构域到小反应网络的小型、重复且保守的生物单元。它们被排列成功能模块，即具有遗传可分解性的细胞功能，如细胞周期或不同的应激反应。模块的动态功能定义了生物体在一场细胞与细胞、细胞与环境相互较量的博弈中生存的策略。将信号通路结构和动力学置于进化背景下，开始能够区分那些使物种适应其周围环境的物理和分子特征，以及那些提供核心生理功能的特征。这种方法有望对细胞设计、信号通路进化和细胞生物工程产生更深入的理解。
