ArticleBMC systems biology2018
Single molecules can operate as primitive biological sensors, switches and oscillators.
Article in BMC systems biology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Systematic analysis of negative and positive feedback loops for robustness and temperature compensation in circadian rhythms.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2023Article
- A modular approach for modeling the cell cycle based on functional response curves.PLoS computational biology · 2021Article
- Evolution of opposing regulatory interactions underlies the emergence of eukaryotic cell cycle checkpoints.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Oscillations and bistability in a model of ERK regulation.Journal of mathematical biology · 2019Article
- Computational modelling unravels the precise clockwork of cyanobacteria.Interface focus · 2018Review
- Computing with biological switches and clocks.Natural computing · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSwitch-like and oscillatory dynamical systems are widely observed in biology. We investigate the simplest biological switch that is composed of a single molecule that can be autocatalytically converted between two opposing activity forms. We test how this simple network can keep its switching behaviour under perturbations in the system.
resultsWe show that this molecule can work as a robust bistable system, even for alterations in the reactions that drive the switching between various conformations. We propose that this single molecule system could work as a primitive biological sensor and show by steady state analysis of a mathematical model of the system that it could switch between possible states for changes in environmental signals. Particularly, we show that a single molecule phosphorylation-dephosphorylation switch could work as a nucleotide or energy sensor. We also notice that a given set of reductions in the reaction network can lead to the emergence of oscillatory behaviour.
conclusionsWe propose that evolution could have converted this switch into a single molecule oscillator, which could have been used as a primitive timekeeper. We discuss how the structure of the simplest known circadian clock regulatory system, found in cyanobacteria, resembles the proposed single molecule oscillator. Besides, we speculate if such minimal systems could have existed in an RNA world.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.