Biased Eukaryotic Gene Regulation Rules Suggest Genome Behavior Is Near Edge of Chaos

Abstract

Introduction The present article reports an analysis of data pertaining to certain biases in the observed patterns of transcription regulation of eukaryotic genes. In the Boolean idealization, a small subset of possible switching rules, the canalizing functions, are highly utilized. To draw inferences about the implications of the observed biases, a statistical ensemble approach was used. Representative networks constructed within the ensemble of networks that satisfy the biases were studied numerically. The consequences indicate that modeled genomic regulatory systems are in a dynamical "ordered" regime, measurably close to a transition to a "chaotic" regime. A number of testable consequences are derived. Section 2 Transcription State Spaces, Trajectories, Attractors, and Boolean Net Models A state space is a mathematical abstraction used to describe a dynamical system consisting of a number of interacting variables. The human genomic regulatory