Phase-locked signals elucidate circuit architecture of an oscillatory pathway.

Autor: Andreja Jovic, Bryan Howell, Michelle Cote, Susan M Wade, Khamir Mehta, Atsushi Miyawaki, Richard R Neubig, Jennifer J Linderman, Shuichi Takayama
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2010
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS Computational Biology, Vol 6, Iss 12, p e1001040 (2010)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1553-734X
1553-7358
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1001040
Popis: This paper introduces the concept of phase-locking analysis of oscillatory cellular signaling systems to elucidate biochemical circuit architecture. Phase-locking is a physical phenomenon that refers to a response mode in which system output is synchronized to a periodic stimulus; in some instances, the number of responses can be fewer than the number of inputs, indicative of skipped beats. While the observation of phase-locking alone is largely independent of detailed mechanism, we find that the properties of phase-locking are useful for discriminating circuit architectures because they reflect not only the activation but also the recovery characteristics of biochemical circuits. Here, this principle is demonstrated for analysis of a G-protein coupled receptor system, the M3 muscarinic receptor-calcium signaling pathway, using microfluidic-mediated periodic chemical stimulation of the M3 receptor with carbachol and real-time imaging of resulting calcium transients. Using this approach we uncovered the potential importance of basal IP3 production, a finding that has important implications on calcium response fidelity to periodic stimulation. Based upon our analysis, we also negated the notion that the Gq-PLC interaction is switch-like, which has a strong influence upon how extracellular signals are filtered and interpreted downstream. Phase-locking analysis is a new and useful tool for model revision and mechanism elucidation; the method complements conventional genetic and chemical tools for analysis of cellular signaling circuitry and should be broadly applicable to other oscillatory pathways.
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