title: Discovery of a kernel for controlling biomolecular regulatory networks.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Junil
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sang-Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Kwang-Hyun
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D055808:Drug Discovery; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D010641:Phenotype; D010944:Plants; D011485:Protein Binding; D060066:Protein Interaction Maps; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects