2012.12.7 Bistability and trigger waves in mitosis

Speaker： James Ferrell

　　　　　　   (Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology;
                  Professor of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine)

Time：1:00pm, Dec. 7, 2012

Address：No. 101 Hall, Jinguang Life Sciences Building, School of Life
    Sciences, PKU

Abstract：

The Xenopus early embryonic cell cycle is driven by oscillations in the concentration of cyclin B and inthe activity of cyclin B-Cdk1 complexes. We have been studying the Cdk1 oscillator through quantitative experiments and computational modeling. Here we show that the oscillator circuit includes a bistable trigger, built out of interlinked positive and double-negative feedback loops. This trigger allows the Cdk1 circuit to generate rapidly propagating waves of Cdk1 activation and inactivation, which help to keep mitosis coordinated over the large distance scales (~mm) of the frog egg.

Selected Publications: 

1.  Santos SDM, Wollman R, Meyer T, Ferrell JE Jr. (2012). Spatial positive feedback at the onset of mitosis. Cell 149:1500-1513.

2.  Ferrell JE Jr. (2012). Bistability, bifurcations, and Waddington
!/s epigenetic landscape.  Curr Biol 22:R458-R466.

3.  Pearlman SM, Serber Z, Ferrell JE Jr. (2011). A mechanism for the evolution of phosphorylation sites. Cell, 147:934-946. 

4. Trunnell NB, Poon AC, Kim SY, Ferrell JE Jr. (2011) Ultrasensitivity in the regulation of Cdc25C by Cdk1. Mol Cell, 41:263-274.