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Nguyen TD, Magaldino CM, Landfair JT, Amazeen PG, Amazeen EL. From Cognitive Agents to Cognitive Systems: Theoretical, Methodological, and Empirical Developments of van Gelder's (1998) "Dynamical Hypothesis". Top Cogn Sci 2024. [PMID: 38394354 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Revised: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 02/01/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024]
Abstract
Over two decades have passed since the publication of van Gelder's (1998) "dynamical hypothesis." In that paper, van Gelder proposed that cognitive agents were not digital computers-per the representational computational approach-but dynamical systems. The evolution of the dynamical hypothesis was driven by parallel advances in three areas. Theoretically, a deeper understanding of genetics, biology, neuroscience, and cognitive science inspired questions about how systems within each domain dynamically interact and extend their effects across spatiotemporal scales. Methodologically, more sophisticated and domain-general tools allowed researchers to discover, model, and quantify system dynamics, structure, and patterns across multiple scales to generate a more comprehensive system-level understanding of behaviors. Empirically, we can analyze a system's behavior while preserving its natural dynamics, revealing evidence that the reductionist approach leads to an incomplete understanding of the components and the overall system. Researchers have traditionally reduced a complex system into its component processes and assumed that the parts can be recombined to explain the whole. These three advances fundamentally altered our understanding of a "cognitive agent:" How their behaviors are driven by long-range coordination across multiple processes, how the interdependent and nested structure of interacting variables produces behaviors that are greater than the sum of its parts, and how environmental constraints shape adaptive yet stable behavioral patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tri D Nguyen
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University
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Nussinov R, Liu Y, Zhang W, Jang H. Cell phenotypes can be predicted from propensities of protein conformations. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2023; 83:102722. [PMID: 37871498 PMCID: PMC10841533 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2023.102722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2023] [Revised: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
Proteins exist as dynamic conformational ensembles. Here we suggest that the propensities of the conformations can be predictors of cell function. The conformational states that the molecules preferentially visit can be viewed as phenotypic determinants, and their mutations work by altering the relative propensities, thus the cell phenotype. Our examples include (i) inactive state variants harboring cancer driver mutations that present active state-like conformational features, as in K-Ras4BG12V compared to other K-Ras4BG12X mutations; (ii) mutants of the same protein presenting vastly different phenotypic and clinical profiles: cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders; (iii) alterations in the occupancies of the conformational (sub)states influencing enzyme reactivity. Thus, protein conformational propensities can determine cell fate. They can also suggest the allosteric drugs efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth Nussinov
- Computational Structural Biology Section, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702, USA; Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel; Cancer Innovation Laboratory, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD 21702, USA.
| | - Yonglan Liu
- Cancer Innovation Laboratory, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
| | - Wengang Zhang
- Cancer Innovation Laboratory, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
| | - Hyunbum Jang
- Computational Structural Biology Section, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702, USA; Cancer Innovation Laboratory, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
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Zhang X, Pan C, Wei X, Yu M, Liu S, An J, Yang J, Wei B, Hao W, Yao Y, Zhu Y, Zhang W. Cancer-keeper genes as therapeutic targets. iScience 2023; 26:107296. [PMID: 37520717 PMCID: PMC10382876 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2023] [Revised: 05/18/2023] [Accepted: 07/03/2023] [Indexed: 08/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Finding cancer-driver genes has been a central theme of cancer research. We took a different perspective; instead of considering normal cells, we focused on cancerous cells and genes that maintained abnormal cell growth, which we named cancer-keeper genes (CKGs). Intervening CKGs may rectify aberrant cell growth, making them potential cancer therapeutic targets. We introduced control-hub genes and developed an efficient algorithm by extending network controllability theory. Control hub are essential for maintaining cancerous states and thus can be taken as CKGs. We applied our CKG-based approach to bladder cancer (BLCA). All genes on the cell-cycle and p53 pathways in BLCA were identified as CKGs, showing their importance in cancer. We discovered that sensitive CKGs - genes easily altered by structural perturbation - were particularly suitable therapeutic targets. Experiments on cell lines and a mouse model confirmed that six sensitive CKGs effectively suppressed cancer cell growth, demonstrating the immense therapeutic potential of CKGs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xizhe Zhang
- Early Intervention Unit, Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
- School of Biomedical Engineering and Informatics, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Chunyu Pan
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
| | - Xinru Wei
- Early Intervention Unit, Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
- School of Biomedical Engineering and Informatics, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Meng Yu
- Department of Laboratory Animal Science, China Medical University, Shenyang, China
- Key Laboratory of Transgenetic Animal Research, China Medical University, Shenyang, China
| | - Shuangjie Liu
- Department of Urology, First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China
| | - Jun An
- Department of Urology, First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China
| | - Jieping Yang
- Department of Urology, First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China
| | - Baojun Wei
- Department of Urology, First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China
| | - Wenjun Hao
- Department of Urology, First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China
| | - Yang Yao
- Department of Physiology, Shenyang Medical College, Shenyang, China
| | - Yuyan Zhu
- Department of Urology, First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China
| | - Weixiong Zhang
- Department of Health Technology and Informatics, Department of Computing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Department of Genetics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
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