On generation and activation of protein Y we consider the following three models. In what follows we designate the name of protein and its concentration by the same symbol.
In the first model, protein Y is produced at a constant speed β and its degradation rate α is also constant (here α,β are nonnegative real values). That is, we describe the change of the concentration of protein Y by
dtdY=β−αY.
Answer the following questions.
(1) Find the steady-state concentration of protein Y.
(2) We set the concentration of protein Y at time t=0 to 0. Under this setting, express the concentration of protein Y as a function over time t (here t≥0).
In the second model we suppose that m types of transcription factors control the concentration of protein Y. Let X1,…,Xm be the concentrations of m transcription factors. We then describe the change of the concentration of protein Y by
dtdY=j=1∏mXjγj−αY,
where α,γ1,…,γm are unknown parameters.
Answer the following questions.
(3) Consider a steady state. Express the value of logY in terms of X1,…,Xm and α,γ1,…,γm.
(4) Consider the following experiment: we measure the steady-state concentration of Y for fixed values of X1,…,Xm. Using different values of X1,…,Xm, we repeat this experiment n times. Let (Yi,Xi,1,…,Xi,m) be the i-th experimental data (where i=1,…,n). Give an experimental condition for this series of experiments to uniquely determine the parameters α,γ1,…,γm.
As the third model we consider the following. Proteins X1 and X2 are activated by phosphorylation; and activated X1 and X2 phosphorylate protein Y. We describe this model by
dtdYp=3Xp,1Y0+2Xp,2Y0−Yp,
where: Xp,1 and Xp,2 are the concentrations of phosphorylated X1 and phosphorylated X2, respectively; and Y0 and Yp are the concentrations of non-phosphorylated Y and phosphorylated Y, respectively. Here we assume that Xp,1 and Xp,2 are constant over time, and that Y0+Yp=C (C is a constant).
Answer the following question.
(5) Find a condition on Xp,1 and Xp,2 so that, in a steady state, Yp/C is greater than 0.5.