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Diseased conditions are a consequence of some abnormality that are associated with clinical conditions in numerous cells and tissues affecting various organs. The common role of EBV (Epstein-Barr virus) in causing infectious mononucleosis…
Genetic switch systems with mutual repression of two transcription factors are studied using deterministic methods (rate equations) and stochastic methods (the master equation and Monte Carlo simulations). These systems exhibit bistability,…
It is estimated that approximately 15% of cancers worldwide can be linked to viral infections. The viruses that can cause or increase the risk of cancer include human papillomavirus, hepatitis B and C viruses, Epstein-Barr virus, and human…
Chronic infections of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) create a very complex co-evolutionary process, where the virus tries to escape the continuously adapting host immune system. Quantitative details of this process are largely…
The vertebrate adaptive immune system provides a flexible and diverse set of molecules to neutralize pathogens. Yet, viruses such as HIV can cause chronic infections by evolving as quickly as the adaptive immune system, forming an…
Structural and dynamical fingerprints of evolutionary optimization in biological networks are still unclear. We here analyze the dynamics of genetic regulatory networks responsible for the regulation of cell cycle and cell differentiation…
The evolutionary dynamics of HIV during the chronic phase of infection is driven by the host immune response and by selective pressures exerted through drug treatment. To understand and model the evolution of HIV quantitatively, the…
Introduction. Can the infection due to the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 induce a change in the differentiation status or process in T cells?. Methods. We will consider two stochastic Markov chain models, one which will describe the…
The evolutionary process that led to the emergence of modern human behaviors during the Middle Stone Age in Africa remains enigmatic. While various hypotheses have been proposed, we offer a new perspective that integrates the variability…
We construct a seven-component model of the in-host dynamics of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type-1 (i.e, HIV) that accounts for latent infection and the propensity of viral mutation. A dynamical analysis is conducted and a theorem is…
During chronic infection, HIV-1 engages in a rapid coevolutionary arms race with the host's adaptive immune system. While it is clear that HIV exerts strong selection on the adaptive immune system, the characteristics of the somatic…
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a protracted illness condition (lasting even years) appearing with strong flu symptoms and systemic defiances by the immune system. Here, by means of statistical mechanics techniques, we study the most widely…
Epistasis refers to the phenomenon in which phenotypic consequences caused by mutation of one gene depend on one or more mutations at another gene. Epistasis is critical for understanding many genetic and evolutionary processes, including…
Based on a recent model of evolving viruses competing with an adapting immune system [1], we study the conditions under which a viral quasispecies can maximize its growth rate. The range of mutation rates that allows viruses to thrive is…
We present a comparative analysis of large-scale topological and evolutionary properties of transcription networks in three species, the two distant bacteria E. coli and B. subtilis, and the yeast S. cerevisiae. The study focuses on the…
Enveloped viruses enter host cells either through endocytosis, or by direct fusion of the viral membrane envelope and the membrane of the host cell. However, some viruses, such as HIV-1, HSV-1, and Epstein-Barr can enter a cell through…
Human Papillomaviruses (HPV) are one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted infections (STI) and the most oncogenic viruses known to humans. The vast majority of HPV infections clear in less than 3 years, but the underlying mechanisms,…
Epistatic interactions between residues determine a protein's adaptability and shape its evolutionary trajectory. When a protein experiences a changed environment, it is under strong selection to find a peak in the new fitness landscape. It…
Multiple mechanisms in the HIV lifecycle play a role in its ability to evade therapy and become a chronic, difficult-to-treat infection. Within its major cellular target, the activated T cell, many steps occur between viral entry and viral…
Vector-borne diseases often infect multiple host species, increasing the likelihood of disease persistence due to the presence of multiple reservoirs. Vector biting patterns and feeding preferences can shift in response to selective…