Description
The Hippo-YAP/TAZ signaling pathway plays a critical role in tissue homeostasis, tumorigenesis, and degeneration disorders. The regulation of YAP/TAZ levels is controlled by a complex regulatory network, where several feedback loops have been identified. However, it remains elusive how these feedback loops contain the YAP/TAZ levels and maintain the system in a healthy physiological state or trap the system into pathological conditions. Here, a mathematical model was developed to represent the YAP/TAZ regulatory network. Through theoretical analyses, three distinct states that designate the three physiological and pathological outcomes were found. The transition from the physiological state to the two pathological states is mechanistically controlled by coupled bidirectional bistable switches, which are robust to parametric variation and stochastic fluctuations at the molecular level. This work provides a mechanistic understanding of the regulation and dysregulation of YAP/TAZ levels in tissue state transitions.
Details
Title
- Control of Tissue Homeostasis, Tumorigenesis, and Degeneration by Coupled Bidirectional Bistable Switches
Contributors
- Barra Avila, Diego Rodrigo (Author)
- Tian, Xiaojun (Thesis advisor)
- Wang, Xiao (Committee member)
- Plaisier, Christopher (Committee member)
- Arizona State University (Publisher)
Date Created
The date the item was original created (prior to any relationship with the ASU Digital Repositories.)
2021
Subjects
Resource Type
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Note
- Partial requirement for: M.S., Arizona State University, 2021
- Field of study: Biomedical Engineering