During the past decade, our knowledge of molecular mechanisms involved in growth factor signaling has proliferated almost explosively. However, the kinetics and control of information transfer through signaling networks remain poorly understood. This paper combines experimental kinetic analysis and computational modeling of the short term pattern of cellular responses to epidermal growth factor (EGF) in isolated hepatocytes. The experimental data show transient tyrosine phosphorylation of the EGF receptor (EGFR) and transient or sustained response patterns in multiple signaling proteins targeted by EGFR. Transient responses exhibit pronounced maxima, reached within 15-30 s of EGF stimulation and followed by a decline to relatively low (quasi-steady-state) levels. In contrast to earlier suggestions, we demonstrate that the experimentally observed transients can be accounted for without requiring receptor-mediated activation of specific tyrosine phosphatases, following EGF stimulation. The kinetic model predicts how the cellular response is controlled by the relative levels and activity states of signaling proteins and under what conditions activation patterns are transient or sustained. EGFR signaling patterns appear to be robust with respect to variations in many elemental rate constants within the range of experimentally measured values. On the other hand, we specify which changes in the kinetic scheme, rate constants, and total amounts of molecular factors involved are incompatible with the experimentally observed kinetics of signal transfer. Quantitation of signaling network responses to growth factors allows us to assess how cells process information controlling their growth and differentiation.

A better understanding of human metabolism and its relationship with diseases is an important task in human systems biology studies. In this paper, we present a high-quality human metabolic network manually reconstructed by integrating genome annotation information from different databases and metabolic reaction information from literature. The network contains nearly 3000 metabolic reactions, which were reorganized into about 70 human-specific metabolic pathways according to their functional relationships. By analysis of the functional connectivity of the metabolites in the network, the bow-tie structure, which was found previously by structure analysis, is reconfirmed. Furthermore, the distribution of the disease related genes in the network suggests that the IN (substrates) subset of the bow-tie structure has more flexibility than other parts.

Control analysis of periodic phenomena in biological systemsKholodenko, B.N.; Demin, O.V.; Westerhoff, H.V. General rightsIt is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. Download date: 10 May 2018 Control Analysis of Periodic Phenomena in Biological SystemsBoris N. Kholodenko,* , † Oleg V. Demin, ‡ and Hans V. Westerhoff §,| Department of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology, Thomas Jefferson UniVersity, 1020 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PennsylVania 19107, A.N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Moscow State UniVersity, 119899 Moscow, Russia, Department of Microbial Physiology, Free UniVersity, De Boelelaan 1087, NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and E. C. Slater Institute, Biocentrum, UniVersity of Amsterdam, Plantage Muidergracht 12, The Netherlands ReceiVed: July 31, 1996 In Final Form: January 7, 1997 X Principles of the control and regulation of steady-state metabolic systems have been identified in terms of the concepts and laws of metabolic control analysis (MCA). With respect to the control of periodic phenomena MCA has not been equally successful. This paper shows why in case of autonomous (self-sustained) oscillations for the concentrations and reaction rates, time-dependent control coefficients are not useful to characterize the system: they are neither constant nor periodic and diverge as time progresses. This is because a controlling parameter tends to change the frequency and causes a phase shift that continuously increases with time. This recognition is important in the extension of MCA for periodic phenomena. For oscillations that are enforced with an externally determined frequency, the time-dependent control coefficients over metabolite concentration and fluxes (reaction rates) are shown to have a complete meaning. Two such time-dependent control coefficients are defined for forced oscillations. One, the so-called periodic control coefficient, measures how the stationary periodic movement depends on the activities of one of the enzymes. The other, the socalled transient control coefficient, measures the control over the transition of the system between two stationary oscillations, as induced by a change in one of the enzyme activities. For forced oscillations, the two control coefficients become equal as time tends to infinity. N...