Contents tagged “nongenetic inheritance”

There are 2 contents with the tag “nongenetic inheritance”:

  1. Ecological Models for Gene Therapy. I. Models for Intraorganismal Ecology

    Ecological Models for Gene Therapy. I. Models for Intraorganismal Ecology

    Biological Theory

    We discuss the perspective of intra-organismal ecology by investigating a family of models of niche construction. We consider first and second order models.

    Abstract

    In this article, we discuss the perspective of intraorganismal ecology by investigating a family of ecological models. We consider two types of models. First-order models describe the population dynamics as being directly affected by ecological factors (here understood as nutrients, space, etc). They might be thought of as analogous to Aristotelian physics. Second-order models describe the population dynamics as being indirectly affected, the ecological factors now affecting the derivative of the growth rate (that is, the population acceleration), possibly through an impact on nongenetically inherited factors. Second-order models might be thought of as analogous to Galilean physics. In a companion article, we apply these ideas to a situation of gene therapy.

    Keywords: Ecosystem engineering, Inertial dynamics, Intraorganismal ecology, Niche construction, Nongenetic inheritance

    Citation
    Pocheville, A., and Maël Montévil. 2014. “Ecological Models for Gene Therapy. I. Models for Intraorganismal Ecology.” Biological Theory 9 (4): 401–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-014-0190-y
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  2. Ecological Models for Gene Therapy. II. Niche Construction, Nongenetic Inheritance, and Ecosystem Perturbations

    Ecological Models for Gene Therapy. II. Niche Construction, Nongenetic Inheritance, and Ecosystem Perturbations

    Biological Theory

    We apply the perspective of intra-organismal ecology by investigating a family of ecological models suitable to describe a gene therapy.

    Abstract

    In this article, we apply the perspective of intraorganismal ecology by investigating a family of ecological models suitable to describe a gene therapy for a particular metabolic disorder, the adenosine deaminase deficiency. The gene therapy is modeled as the prospective ecological invasion of an organ (here, bone marrow) by genetically modified stem cells, which then operate niche construction in the cellular environment by releasing an enzyme they synthesize. We show that depending on the order chosen for the model (a choice that cannot be made on a priori assumptions), different kinds of dynamics are expected, possibly leading to different therapeutic strategies. This drives us to discuss several features of the extension of ecology to intraorganismal ecology.

    Keywords: Adenosine deaminase deficiency, Ecosystem engineering, Gene therapy, Intraorganismal ecology, Nongenetic inheritance, Severe combined immunodeficiency

    Citation
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