Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 8. Concentration behaviors of
per
mRNA; (a)
dbt
L
mutant (b) wild type (c)
dbt
S
mutant. Formula such as
m
7*
m
12/85 for
the firing speed of transition
T
3
is described at each graph. The firing speed in
dbt
S
(
dbt
L
)
case is faster (slower) than the firing
speed in wildtype case. The firing speed of the transition
T
3
represents complex forming rate of two proteins PER and DBT.
APOPTOSIS INDUCED BY FAS LIGAND
The purpose of this section is to demonstrate that signal transduction pathways can be modeled
with GON. We considered a biopathway known for the apoptosis induced by Fas ligand and made a
computational experiment for evaluating the effect of an autocatalytic process.
Apoptosis, programmed cell death, is known to participate in various biological processes such as
development, maintenance of tissue homeostasis and elimination of cancer cells [17,18]. Malfunctions
of apoptosis have been implicated in many forms of human diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases,
AIDS and ischemic stroke. Reportedly, apoptosis is caused by various inducers such as chemical
compounds, proteins or removal of NGF. The biochemical pathways of apoptosis are complex and
depend on both the cells and the inducers.
Fas-induced apoptosis has been studied in detail and its mechanism has been proposed as shown in
Fig. 9 [19]. Fas ligands, which usually exist as trimers, bind and activate their receptors by inducing
