Competing to coordinate cell fate decisions: the MST2-Raf-1 signaling device

How do biochemical signaling path-ways generate biological specificity? This question is fundamental to modern biology, and its enigma has been accentu-ated by the discovery that most proteins in signaling networks serve multifunc-tional roles. An answer to this question may lie in analyzing network properties rather than individual traits of proteins in order to elucidate design principles of biochemical networks that enable biolog-ical decision-making. We discuss how this is achieved in the MST2/Hippo-Raf-1 signaling network with the help of mathematical modeling and model-based analysis, which showed that competing protein interactions with affinities con-trolled by dynamic protein modifications can function as Boolean computing devi-ces that determine cell fate decisions. In addition, we discuss areas of interest for future research and highlight how sys-tems approaches would be of benefit