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Robustness of signal transduction pathways

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Abstract

Signal transduction pathways transduce information about the outside of the cell to the nucleus, regulating gene expression and cell fate. To reliably inform the cell about its surroundings, information transfer has to be robust against typical perturbation that a cell experiences. Robustness of several mammalian signaling pathways has been studied recently by quantitative experimentation and using mathematical modeling. Here, we review these studies, and describe the emerging concepts of robustness and the underlying mechanisms.

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Acknowledgments

We thank our groups for discussions on robustness. NB acknowledges support for this work by DFG (SFB 618, project A3, and SPP 1395) and BMBF through the FORSYS-Partner programme. SL is supported by the BMBF (Virtual Liver Network; e: bio junior group programme).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Pathology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Nils Blüthgen

  2. Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt University Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    Nils Blüthgen

  3. Institute of Molecular Biology, Ackermannweg 4, 55128, Mainz, Germany

    Stefan Legewie

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Correspondence to Nils Blüthgen.

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Blüthgen, N., Legewie, S. Robustness of signal transduction pathways. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 70, 2259–2269 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-012-1162-7

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