Regulatory gene networks and the properties of the developmental process

doi:10.1073/pnas.0437746100

Regulatory gene networks and the properties of the developmental process

^*Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125; ^‡Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708; and ^§Institute for Systems Biology, 1441 North 34th Street, Seattle, WA 98103

Abstract

Genomic instructions for development are encoded in arrays of regulatory DNA. These specify large networks of interactions among genes producing transcription factors and signaling components. The architecture of such networks both explains and predicts developmental phenomenology. Although network analysis is yet in its early stages, some fundamental commonalities are already emerging. Two such are the use of multigenic feedback loops to ensure the progressivity of developmental regulatory states and the prevalence of repressive regulatory interactions in spatial control processes. Gene regulatory networks make it possible to explain the process of development in causal terms and eventually will enable the redesign of developmental regulatory circuitry to achieve different outcomes.

Footnotes

↵ † To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: davidson{at}caltech.edu.
Abbreviations:

GRN,

gene regulatory network;

pmc,

primary mesenchyme cell