By Joshua Havumaki
As if we didn’t need another reason to look to computational modeling methods to understand the underlying mechanisms of the cell, a recent article in Molecular Systems Biology by Gitter et al. called "Backup in gene regulatory networks explains differences between binding and knockout results" describes the extent to which paralogs (parallels of master genes) can “backup” master gene functionality. Master genes make-up between five and ten percent of the genome and produce transcription factors, which can in turn can activate or deactivate other genes.
A large collaboration chaired by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University helps explain how master gene redundancy allows for them to backup each other to an unanticipated extent. If one gene is lost, its paralog can be turned on to take its place. This explains the recent discovery that removing one master gene does not affect the activation of its target genes. Double knockout experiments done by Gitter et al. also confirm this research.
A Science Daily article, "Cells Are Like Robust Computational Systems, Scientists Report", draws the comparison between the backup functionality of paralogs to computer processors. Essentially, when a single master gene no longer acts correctly, the cell can continue to function properly, just as Amazon employs redundancy to backup failing devices, master genes have backups as well.
