Stochastic Simulation of the Phage Lambda Gene Regulatory Circuitry

Abstract

Quantitative Biology: From Molecular to Cellular Systems edited by Michael E. Wall © 2012 CRC Press / Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. ISBN: 978-1-4398-2722-212.1 Introduction is chapter describes a stochastic simulation of the phage λ gene regulatory circuitry, one of the best-characterized circuits in biology. is simulation is stochastic because the crucial regulatory events occur when the cell contains small numbers of regulatory molecules, and because many of these regulatory events occur in only a small fraction of the cell's and can be thought of as rare events. e primary goals of the modeling are to determine the critical features that control the behavior of the circuitry; to test specic mechanistic models for its operation; to facilitate productive interplay between modeling and experiment, allowing renement of the model and the parameter set; and ultimately to develop a quantitative description of the λ circuitry and its interaction with the host, to supplement the qualitative wiring diagrams currently used to describe the circuitry.