Controllability Analysis for Gene Regulation Networks and Its Application to Luminescence Bacterium

This paper discusses the controllability problem of gene regulation networks from the systems and control point of view. First, we consider what kind of controllability problems are useful for analyzing and controlling gene networks. Next, based on a probabilistic approach for the controllability analysis of hybrid dynamical systems, this paper provides a method to solve a kind of controllability problem of gene networks, called the controllable state set problem, that is, the problem of finding the set of the controllable initial state. The method is applied to a gene network of bioluminescence in the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri, and then we show by numerical simulations that it is useful for this analysis.