Regulatory Mechanisms and their Role in Development

Biochemical pathways are controlled by transcriptional regulation by the production of a specific protein at a specific time and in a specific amount.

The regulation is often controlled by a nutrient, however in developmental pathways, the regulation is controlled for by a key molecule processed internally.

In binary decisions, the outcome is determined by the amount of the key molecule in relation to the threshold.

Pathways have a maintenance mode that locks the pathway permanently resulting in all future generations of cells to be committed to the regulatory fate.

Regulatory decisions may be found at any level in the process of information transfer from the gene to protein including transcriptional regulation, translational regulation, mRNA splicing regulation.