Biomedical subjects

Sara Hooshangi

Publications and source records attributed to Sara Hooshangi.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

The effect of negative feedback on noise propagation in transcriptional gene networks.

This paper analyzes how the delay and repression strength of negative feedback in single-gene and multigene transcriptional networks influences intrinsic noise propagation and oscillatory behavior. We simulate a variety of transcriptional networks using a stochastic model and report two main findings. First, intrinsic noise is not attenuated by the addition of negative or positive feedback to transcriptional cascades. Second, for multigene negative feedback networks, synchrony in oscillations among a cell population can be improved by increasing network depth and tightening the regulation at one of the repression stages. Our long term goal is to understand how the noise characteristics of complex networks can be derived from the properties of modules that are used to compose these networks.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Ultrasensitivity and noise propagation in a synthetic transcriptional cascade.

The precise nature of information flow through a biological network, which is governed by factors such as response sensitivities and noise propagation, greatly affects the operation of biological systems. Quantitative analysis of these properties is often difficult in naturally occurring systems but can be greatly facilitated by studying simple synthetic networks. Here, we report the construction of synthetic transcriptional cascades comprising one, two, and three repression stages. These model systems enable us to analyze sensitivity and noise propagation as a function of network complexity. We demonstrate experimentally steady-state switching behavior that becomes sharper with longer cascades. The regulatory mechanisms that confer this ultrasensitive response both attenuate and amplify phenotypical variations depending on the system's input conditions. Although noise attenuation allows the cascade to act as a low-pass filter by rejecting short-lived perturbations in input conditions, noise amplification results in loss of synchrony among a cell population. The experimental results demonstrating the above network properties correlate well with simulations of a simple mathematical model of the system.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMed2004

Optimizing genetic circuits by global sensitivity analysis.

Artificial genetic circuits are becoming important tools for controlling cellular behavior and studying molecular biosystems. To genetically optimize the properties of complex circuits in a practically feasible fashion, it is necessary to identify the best genes and/or their regulatory components as mutation targets to avoid the mutation experiments being wasted on ineffective regions, but this goal is generally not achievable by current methods. The Random Sampling-High Dimensional Model Representation (RS-HDMR) algorithm is employed in this work as a global sensitivity analysis technique to estimate the sensitivities of the circuit properties with respect to the circuit model parameters, such as rate constants, without knowing the precise parameter values. The sensitivity information can then guide the selection of the optimal mutation targets and thereby reduce the laboratory effort. As a proof of principle, the in vivo effects of 16 pairwise mutations on the properties of a genetic inverter were compared against the RS-HDMR predictions, and the algorithm not only showed good consistency with laboratory results but also revealed useful information, such as different optimal mutation targets for optimizing different circuit properties, not available from previous experiments and modeling.

Algorithms↗