Kichol Lee
Molecular Control of the Cell Cycle
In the past couple decades, molecular biologists have been able to
isolate many compounds that are involved in the molecular control of
the cell cycle for a collection of organisms. Since all eukaryotic
organisms go through similar steps in the cell cycle, some
researchers are focused on finding the minimal set of molecular
reactions that are necessary for the primary control of the cell
cycle. One of the simplest models is one developed by John Tyson and
Bela Novak (along with some post-doctoral researchers and graduate
students) for fission yeasts. The primary events for the cell cycle
seem to be initiated by protein kinases whose activities depend on
binding to cyclins (cyclin-dependent kinases, or Cdk's). The
regulation of these key cyclins and kinases depend on whether or not
they are phosphorylated. The mathematical model looks at the positive
and negative feedback controls from these molecular events in an
attempt to provide a minimal model that explains the major events in
the cell cycle.
You will review the literature on the mathematical models for the cell cycle and discuss at least one of these models in detail. You will examine the behavior of one model through simulations, in particular showing how the model explains at least one of the genetically engineered mutants. Describe the qualitative behavior of this model in terms of bifurcations and hysteresis effects that we have studied in class. Your primary starting reference is from the webpage of one of John Tyson's students, Kathy Chen at
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