Date: November 12, 2024
Speaker: Claus Kadelka, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Iowa State University
Title: A meta-analysis of expert-curated Boolean gene regulatory network models reveals a number of special structural and dynamical features
Abstract: Gene regulatory networks (GRNs) play a central role in cellular decision-making. Understanding their structure and how it impacts their dynamics constitutes thus a fundamental biological question. GRNs are frequently modeled as Boolean networks, which are intuitive, simple to describe, and can yield qualitative results even when data are sparse. We assembled the largest repository of expert-curated Boolean GRN models. A meta-analysis of this diverse set of models reveals several surprising structural and dynamical features. GRNs exhibit more canalization, redundancy, and stable dynamics than expected. Moreover, they are enriched for certain recurring network motifs. Altogether, this raises the important question how these features benefit GRNs.