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Almaden Institute
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The Complex Genetic Control System Regulating Cell Cycle
Progression and Asymmetry in a Bacterial Cell
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Abstract:
The
cell cycle and all other activities of a bacterial cell are controlled
by a sophisticated analog control system created by a complex web
of coupled genetic and biochemical reactions. The genetic network
regulating the cell cycle of Caulobacter crescentus involves a small
number of tightly-coupled master regulatory genes that turn modular
subfunctions on and off to implement cell duplication and division.
New “high-throughput” laboratory techniques coupled with sophisticated
statistical analysis and computer modeling make it possible now to
decipher the complete regulatory circuitry of this organism.
Dr. McAdams is a physicist; he was a Department Head at Bell
Laboratories for many years where he worked on projects ranging
from planning of the intercity transmission network to development
of specialized signal processing computers. At the Lockheed Missile
and Space Company, he worked on fault recovery systems and data
management architectures for several military satellites. In
1995, he began to consider genetic regulatory networks from a
systems engineering perspective. Currently Dr. McAdams is in
the Developmental Biology department of the Stanford University
School of Medicine where he investigates the nature of the control
systems that cells create from biochemical and genetic components.
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