Stochastic Gene Expression in a Single Cell

Michael B. Elowitz; Arnold J. Levine; Eric D. Siggia; Peter S. Swain

doi:10.1126/science.1070919

Abstract

Clonal populations of cells exhibit substantial phenotypic variation. Such heterogeneity can be essential for many biological processes and is conjectured to arise from stochasticity, or noise, in gene expression. We constructed strains of Escherichia coli that enable detection of noise and discrimination between the two mechanisms by which it is generated. Both stochasticity inherent in the biochemical process of gene expression (intrinsic noise) and fluctuations in other cellular components (extrinsic noise) contribute substantially to overall variation. Transcription rate, regulatory dynamics, and genetic factors control the amplitude of noise. These results establish a quantitative foundation for modeling noise in genetic networks and reveal how low intracellular copy numbers of molecules can fundamentally limit the precision of gene regulation.

Keywords

BiologyGeneNoise (video)Gene expressionGeneticsRegulation of gene expressionPhenotypeGene regulatory networkComputational biologyComputer science

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Publication Info

Year: 2002
Type: article
Volume: 297
Issue: 5584
Pages: 1183-1186
Citations: 5543
Access: Closed

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APA Style

                            
                                
                                    Michael B. Elowitz, 
                                
                                    Arnold J. Levine, 
                                
                                    Eric D. Siggia
                                
                                et al.
                            
                            (2002). 
                            Stochastic Gene Expression in a Single Cell. 
                            Science
                            , 297
                            (5584)
                            , 1183-1186.
                            https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1070919
                        

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1126/science.1070919