Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 20.1 The Nrf2 signal transduction pathway as schematically represented by Surh (2003). The
numbers are my additions (The figure was reproduced from
http://www.nature.com/nrc/journal/
Similar sets of signal transduction pathways can be engaged by the activation of
nodes 1, 3, 4, 5, and possibly others, leading to the final set of Nrf2 signal
transduction pathways numbering at least 40. For each one of these 40 possible
pathways, one can raise a binary question. For example, “Is pathway 3 activated
under the given experimental condition?” The answer to this question can be
expressed in the unit of fits, that is, any number between 0 (no) and 1 (yes),
including decimals such as 0.3 (i.e., the degree of the yes answer being correct is
30%), or 0.9 (i.e., the degree of the yes answer being correct is 90%), etc.,
depending on the certainty of the relevant experimental data. Or these numbers
may be viewed as the
probabilities
of the occurrence of the pathway being
considered under the experimental condition. Table
20.2
lists all the possible
answers to the binary questions elicited by experiments (i.e., the “apparatus-elicited
can also be viewed as the possible “mechanisms” of the actions of the agents that
interact with the Nrf2 signaling pathway. For example, under experimental
condition 1 (see the row labeled 1 in Table
20.2
), the probabilities of the occurrence
