The Stress-Response Network in Animals: Proposals to Develop a Predictive Mathematical Model

Abstract

Increasing evidence indicates that numerous genetic pathways responding to environmental stress in animals are regulated co-ordinately as well as independently. These stress-response systems should therefore be viewed in holistic terms as a network. As such, their behaviour is susceptible to mathematical modelling using a systems biology approach. This review outlines relevant evidence and describes a newly launched project to develop just such a model using stressresponse data from multiple transgenic strains of C. elegans and D. melanogaster. We hope that our eventual model will be capable of predicting the effects of simple stressor mixtures with reasonable accuracy. To maximise the effectiveness and scope of this model, we appeal for help from colleagues to share reagents and data relevant to this project. We also present preliminary data where RNA interference has implicated the key transcription factor DAF-16 in an unexpected upregulation of cyp-34A9 reporter expression by high cadmium.