Gene Regulatory Dynamics in Growing Systems

1 Regulatory and Structural Information The information contained in a gene can conceptually be separated into a regulatory and a structural component. Structural information determines the structure of the gene product and typically takes the form of a coding sequence of nucleotides, which is then (according to the “central dogma of molecular biology”) translated to an amino acid sequence which, in turn, folds into a three-dimensional, biological structure (possibly in interaction with molecular chaperones etc.). Regulatory information determines under which condition the encoded structure is expressed. The process at the core of interpreting regulatory information is the binding of transcription factors to their cognate sites (see e.g. [2]). As transcription factors are encoded by genes which are subject to differential regulation themselves, regulatory networks are constituted.