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arXiv · 1705.10697

The heterodimer auto-repression loop: a robust and flexible pulse-generating genetic module

B. Lannoo·E. Carlon·M. Lefranc
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Abstract

We investigate the dynamics of the heterodimer autorepression loop (HAL), a small genetic module in which a protein A acts as an auto-repressor and binds to a second protein B to form a AB dimer. For suitable values of the rate constants the HAL produces pulses of A alternating with pulses of B. By means of analytical and numerical calculations, we show that the duration of A-pulses is extremely robust against variation of the rate constants while the duration of the B-pulses can be flexibly adjusted. The HAL is thus a minimal genetic module generating robust pulses with tunable duration an interesting property for cellular signalling.

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B. Lannoo, E. Carlon, M. Lefranc. 2017-05-30. The heterodimer auto-repression loop: a robust and flexible pulse-generating genetic module. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.117.018102

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