ABSTRACT
Advances in molecular biological research have enabled the identification of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the sequencing of its genome. Much is known about viral structures, but many facets of HIV pathogenesis still elude us. Understanding such complexity may be aided by the concept of the genetic network of viruses. Viruses that carry very little genetic information have learned to manipulate the genetic information of higher organisms on a fundamental level. Convergence and stability in Boolean networks are manifested in model because the network is characterized by a relatively small number of final patterns; the attractors can be reached from a variety of starting states; and minor state changes usually result in an alternative trajectory leading to the same attractor. The chapter discusses the pleiotropic effects of viral genes in perturbing the host organism and the principles of genetic network dynamics using the analogy of Boolean networks.
