For more than a decade, the MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) cascade has been studied using mathematical modelling and quantitative experimentation [1]. The MAPK cascade relays the presence of extracellular stimuli such as growth hormones to the nucleus and controls the expression of hundreds of genes. MAPKs control major cell fate decisions such as proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis, mainly by inducing alterations in gene expression. In this chapter, we discuss how systems biology analysis provides insights into the functioning of this cascade. We show how this pathway assists the cell in responding properly to extracellular cues by filtering out sub-threshold stimuli, while efficiently transmitting physiologically relevant inputs. Several different receptors signal through the MAPK pathway even though they elicit opposite biological responses, thus raising the question of how specificity is achieved in MAPK signalling. Experimental studies revealed that specific biological responses are encoded by quantitative aspects of the MAPK signal such as amplitude or duration. We discuss mechanisms that enable the pathway to generate quantitatively different signals, and also explain how different signals are interpreted by the downstream gene expression machinery.
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September 2008
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Review Article|
September 30 2008
Systems analysis of MAPK signal transduction
Nils Blüthgen;
*Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre, School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Sciences, The University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, U.K.
‡Institute of Pathology, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, D-10117 Berlin, Germany
2To whom correspondence should be addressed (email nils.bluthgen@manchester.ac.uk).
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Stefan Legewie
Stefan Legewie
1
†Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt University, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany
‡Institute of Pathology, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, D-10117 Berlin, Germany
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Online ISSN: 1744-1358
Print ISSN: 0071-1365
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2008 Biochemical Society
2008
Essays Biochem (2008) 45: 95–108.
Citation
Olaf Wolkenhauer, Peter Wellstead, Kwang-Hyun Cho, Nils Blüthgen, Stefan Legewie; Systems analysis of MAPK signal transduction. Essays Biochem 30 September 2008; 45 95–108. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/bse045095
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