Mathematical Concepts and Methods in Modern Biology

Chapter 3

Inferring the Topology of Gene Regulatory Networks: An Algebraic Approach to Reverse Engineering

Brandilyn Stigler^* and Elena Dimitrova^†, ^*Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275-0156, USA, ^†Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0975, USA, [e-mail]

3.1 Introduction

3.1.1 Gene Regulatory Networks in Molecular Biology

In everyday language the word “genes” has become synonymous with heredity. Nowadays children learn early that who we, and the living world around us, are is encoded in each and every cell of the organism. This, of course, is generally true.¹ Indeed genes hold the information to build and maintain an organism’s cells and pass genetic traits to offspring. However, thinking of a genome simply as a book full ...