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The Impact of Retroactivity on the Behavior of Biomolecular Systems

A Review of Recent Results

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Design and Analysis of Biomolecular Circuits

Abstract

Modularity is a powerful property for analyzing the behavior of a system on the basis of the behavior of its components. According to this property, any two components maintain their behavior unchanged upon interconnection. Is modularity a natural property of biomolecular networks? In this review, we summarize recent theoretical and experimental results that demonstrate that the answer to this question is negative. Just as in many electrical, mechanical, and hydraulic systems, impedance-like effects, called retroactivity, arise at the interconnection of biomolecular systems and alter the behavior of connected components. Here, we illustrate the effects of retroactivity on the static characteristics and on the dynamic input/output response of biomolecular systems by employing a mixture of control theoretic tools, mathematical biology, and experimental techniques on reconstituted systems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 02139, USA

    Domitilla Del Vecchio

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  1. Domitilla Del Vecchio
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Correspondence to Domitilla Del Vecchio .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Automatic Control Laboratory, ETH Zurich, Physikstrasse 3, Zurich, 8092, Switzerland

    Heinz Koeppl

  2. ARCES, Università di Bologna, Via Toffano 2/2, Bologna, 40125, Italy

    Gianluca Setti

  3. Università di Napoli Federico II, Via Claudio 21, Napoli, 80125, Italy

    Mario di Bernardo

  4. , Department of Electrical and Computer En, Boston University, Saint Mary's St. 8, Boston, 02446, Massachusetts, USA

    Douglas Densmore

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Del Vecchio, D. (2011). The Impact of Retroactivity on the Behavior of Biomolecular Systems. In: Koeppl, H., Setti, G., di Bernardo, M., Densmore, D. (eds) Design and Analysis of Biomolecular Circuits. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6766-4_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6766-4_8

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-6765-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-6766-4

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