Control theoretic modeling of a genetic switch

The paper explores a control-theoretic approach to the modeling of a genetic switch associated with bacteriophage λ. The approach consists in modeling the underlying gene regulation mechanisms through the use of control theoretic abstractions of experimentally verified patterns and pathways of gene expression and repression, without resorting to the inclusion of detailed reaction kinetics. The proposed model is not intended to provide predictions of biochemical variables. Instead, the objective is to build a system-centric model of gene regulation dynamics that may be more suited for the analysis and understanding of biological functions. The reported simulation results provide an encouraging illustration of the stated objective´s attainability.