Methods for Modeling Brassinosteroid-Mediated Signaling in Plant Development

Methods Mol Biol. 2017:1564:103-120. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-6813-8_9.

Abstract

Mathematical modeling of biological processes is a useful tool to draw conclusions that are contained in the data, but not directly reachable, as well as to make predictions and select the most efficient follow-up experiments. Here we outline a method to model systems of a few proteins that interact transcriptionally and/or posttranscriptionally, by representing the system as Ordinary Differential Equations and to study the model dynamics and stationary states. We exemplify this method by focusing on the regulation by the brassinosteroid (BR) signaling component BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE1 ETHYL METHYL SULFONATE SUPPRESSOR1 (BES1) of BRAVO, a quiescence-regulating transcription factor expressed in the quiescent cells of Arabidopsis thaliana roots. The method to extract the stationary states and the dynamics is provided as a Mathematica code and requires basic knowledge of the Mathematica software to be executed.

Keywords: Brassinosteroids; Dynamical systems; Modeling; ODEs; Steady states; Transcriptional circuit.

MeSH terms

  • Arabidopsis / drug effects*
  • Arabidopsis / genetics
  • Arabidopsis / growth & development
  • Arabidopsis / metabolism
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / genetics*
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / metabolism
  • Brassinosteroids / pharmacology*
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
  • Mathematical Computing
  • Models, Biological
  • Nuclear Proteins / genetics*
  • Nuclear Proteins / metabolism
  • Plant Growth Regulators / pharmacology*
  • Plant Roots / drug effects
  • Plant Roots / genetics
  • Plant Roots / growth & development
  • Plant Roots / metabolism
  • Protein Biosynthesis
  • Signal Transduction
  • Steroids, Heterocyclic / pharmacology*
  • Transcription Factors / genetics*
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • Transcription, Genetic

Substances

  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • BES1 protein, Arabidopsis
  • Brassinosteroids
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • Plant Growth Regulators
  • Steroids, Heterocyclic
  • Transcription Factors
  • brassinolide