The Control Analysis Of Signal Transduction

This chapter discusses how metabolic control analysis (MCA) and generalisations thereof such as hierarchical control analysis (HCA) may help to understand the control of cell function through signal transduction, as well as the control of signal transduction itself. It reviews the key concepts of MCA paying attention to their applicability to signal transduction. Control analysis has already led to major insights into signal transduction such as that control of signalling tends to be distributed over multiple components and that the phosphatases are as important as, or more important than, the kinases. Examples of applications of control analysis in the medical domain are discussed.