Emergence of short-term memories in cell signaling

FEDERICO SEVLEVER; ALEJANDRA C VENTURA

Puerto Madryn

Workshop; Workshop Statistical physics in biological networks; 2020

General Sarmiento National University

Memory in a cell signalingsystem can be defined as a sustained output to a transient input. It has beenproved that this property can arise from bistability in the system, which isonly possible if positive feedbacks are involved. Bistability leads tohysteresis and irreversible processes. All these notions are studied and welldefined in terms of the asymptotic dynamics of the system. In this work, westudy dynamic hysteresis and bistability, meaning that there is a time windowduring the transient phase of the response (i.e. before reaching steady-state)in which the system behaves as bistable. This behavior can emerge even in the absenceof positive feedbacks or stationary bistability and leads to persistentpost-stimulus activity and thus, short-term memories. We study the signalingmotifs capable of this behavior, the mechanisms responsible for suchpersistence, and the implications in cell fate decisions.