Summary: Transcription regulation networks describe the inter-
actions between transcription factor proteins and
the genes that they regulate1­5
. Transcription factors
respond to biological signals and accordingly change
the transcription rate of genes, allowing cells to
make the proteins they need at the appropriate times
and amounts.
Recent work indicates that transcription networks
contain a small set of recurring regulation patterns,
called network motifs1,6,7
. Network motifs can be
thought of as recurring circuits of interactions from
which the networks are built. Network motifs were first
systematically defined in Escherichia coli, in which they
were detected as patterns that occurred in the transcrip-
tion network much more often than would be expected
in random networks. The same motifs have since been
found in organisms from bacteria8,9
and yeast7,10

Source: Alon, Uri - Departments of Molecular Cell Biology & Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science
Timmer, Jens - Freiburger Zentrum für Datenanalyse und Modellbildung & Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

Collections: Biology and Medicine; Physics