Final Report Summary - PNET (Principles of biomolecular networks)
Our goal in is to understand the origin and consequences of variability in biomolecular systems. To this end, we (1) characterize the sources of variability (on stochastic, regulatory and evolutionary scales), (2) reveal principles by which this variability is buffered to ensure robustness of biological functioning and (3) characterize biological mechanisms that incorporate variability to enable computation not possible by the deterministic dynamics. Our study revealed principles by which developmental robustness is maintained and in particular the means by which embryo pattern scales with embryo size. It further revealed the function of recurrent motif in nutrient homeostasis and defined a role of gene expression noise in this computation.