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| An Introduction to Systems Biology. Design Principles of Biological Circuits | Buy a book...
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| Author(s): | U. Alon |
| Publisher: | Chapman & Hall |
| ISBN: | 1584886420 |
| Format: | softback |
| 301pp | |
| Price: | £28.99 |
| Review Date: | 04 December 2006 |
| Review: | This textbook describes some of the design principles of biological systems and provides a mathematical framework in which these principles can be used to understand biological networks. The first part of the book deals with transcription regulation networks, describing elements of networks and their dynamics. The author stresses that biological systems show an inherent simplicity – employing and combining, rather than combining a rather small set of basic building-block circuits, each for specific computational tasks. The second part focuses on the principle of robustness – biological circuits are designed so that their essential function is insensitive to the naturally-occurring fluctuations in the components of the circuits. Finally, the author shows how constrained evolutionary optimization can be used to understand circuit design, and how kinetic proofreading can minimize errors made in biological information processing. |