Collective regulation by non-coding RNA

TL;DR

This paper models the complex interactions of non-coding RNA networks in cells, revealing their robustness and adaptability, which may explain their weak evolutionary constraints.

Contribution

It introduces a physical model of interconnected non-coding RNA networks considering pair-wise binding, highlighting their robustness and rapid adaptation.

Findings

RNA networks are highly interconnected and robust.

The networks exhibit rapid evolutionary adaptation.

Weak evolutionary constraints in non-coding RNA are explained.

Abstract

We study genetic networks that produce many species of non-coding RNA molecules that are present at a moderate density, as typically exists in the cell. The associations of the many species of these RNA are modeled physically, taking into account the equilibrium constants between bound and unbound states. By including the pair-wise binding of the many RNA species, the network becomes highly interconnected and shows different properties than the usual type of genetic network. It shows much more robustness to mutation, and also rapid evolutionary adaptation in an environment that oscillates in time. This provides a possible explanation for the weak evolutionary constraints seen in much of the non-coding RNA that has been studied.