Discovery of a kernel for controlling biomolecular regulatory networks

作者：Kim Junil; Park Sang Min; Cho Kwang Hyun^*

来源：Scientific Reports, 2013, 3(1): 2223.

DOI：10.1038/srep02223

Cellular behavior is determined not by a single molecule but by many molecules that interact strongly with one another and form a complex network. It is unclear whether cellular behavior can be controlled by regulating certain molecular components in the network. By analyzing a variety of biomolecular regulatory networks, we discovered that only a small fraction of the network components need to be regulated to govern the network dynamics and control cellular behavior. We defined a minimal set of network components that must be regulated to make the cell reach a desired stable state as the control kernel and developed a general algorithm for identifying it. We found that the size of the control kernel was related to both the topological and logical characteristics of a network. Intriguingly, the control kernel of the human signaling network included many drug targets and chemical-binding interactions, suggesting therapeutic application of the control kernel.

• 出版日期2013-7-17