Dynamical Processes in Ageing, Gene Regulation and Communication

Kristian Moss Bendtsen

Abstract

My thesis consists of three parts. The first part covers ageing phenomena. In the first project I measured the mobility of two DNA repair proteins. Contrasting diffusion coefficients from literature I was able to classify DNA repair protein into either "scanners" or "responders". In a second project we constructed a mathematical model and showed that if DNA damage is primarily caused by geno-toxic agents, it would be advantageous for cells to have a fragile DNA repair mechanism. The second part of my Ph.D. thesis covers gene regulation. In the first project we show how RNA polymerase can be used as a transcription factor. This requires that promoter regions overlap, which 15% of promoters in E.coli do. In the second project I analyse a negative auto regulated transcription motif coupled to a positive auto regulation transcription motif. I find that a general feature of this motif is that unstable activation and stable repression is a requirement for the motif to produce oscillations. The last part of this thesis studies the emergence of communication networks. In this study we constructed a simple e-mail game. E-mails from two session with 16 players, who had never met before, showed how players develop favourite communication partners. We observed how this dynamic caused a communication network to form. By quantifying the information flow in this network, we were able to shown how that the network functions as an anti-exploration mechanism against "information leeches".
OriginalsprogEngelsk
ForlagThe Niels Bohr Institute, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen
Antal sider95
StatusUdgivet - 2015

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