title: Cracking the NF-κB code.
abstract: The discovery of feedback loops between signaling and gene expression is ushering in new quantitative models of cellular regulation. In a recent issue of Science Signaling, Sung et al. showed how positive feedback downstream of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signaling enhances the capacity of macrophages to scale their antimicrobial responses to the dose of pathogen-associated molecular cues. This finding stemmed from analysis of cell-to-cell variability and computational modeling of time integration between signaling and transcriptional responses. Ultimately, such quantitative approaches challenge the oft-assumed time separation of "fast" signal transduction followed by "slow" gene expression, and they provide a better understanding of complex biological regulation over long time scales.
authors.affiliation: ImmunoDynamics Group, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Karen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Tkach
authors.forename: Jennifer E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Oyler
authors.forename: Grégoire
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Altan-Bonnet
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D016328:NF-kappa B