The transition between the lysogenic and the lytic state in lambda
phage infected E. coli bacteria
is among the most extensively studied genetic switch mechanisms. The
interplay between the
lysogeny maintaining CI repressor protein and the CRO regulator
protein that controls the
transition to the lytic state is a simple model for more complex
regulatory networks, including
those that can lead to cancer. In this talk we describe the transition
as a process, and propose that
it could be understood in terms of a soliton-antisoliton pair annihilation.
