Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published December 19, 2014 | Accepted Version + Supplemental Material
Journal Article Open

Promoter architecture dictates cell-to-cell variability in gene expression

Abstract

Variability in gene expression among genetically identical cells has emerged as a central preoccupation in the study of gene regulation; however, a divide exists between the predictions of molecular models of prokaryotic transcriptional regulation and genome-wide experimental studies suggesting that this variability is indifferent to the underlying regulatory architecture. We constructed a set of promoters in Escherichia coli in which promoter strength, transcription factor binding strength, and transcription factor copy numbers are systematically varied, and used messenger RNA (mRNA) fluorescence in situ hybridization to observe how these changes affected variability in gene expression. Our parameter-free models predicted the observed variability; hence, the molecular details of transcription dictate variability in mRNA expression, and transcriptional noise is specifically tunable and thus represents an evolutionarily accessible phenotypic parameter.

Additional Information

© 2014 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 28 April 2014; accepted 4 November 2014. We thank H. J. Lee, C. Wiggins, Y. Lin, X. Zhu, F. Weinert, M. Rydenfelt, R. Milo, H. Garcia, N. Belliveau, and J. Sheung for useful discussions. Supported by NIH grants DP1 OD000217 (Directors Pioneer Award), R01 GM085286, and 1 U54 CA143869 (Northwestern PSOC Center); La Fondation Pierre Gilles de Gennes (R.P.); and the Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen Center for Bioengineering at Caltech (D.L.J.). Raw microscopy image data are archived in the Phillips laboratory at Caltech and are available upon request.

Attached Files

Accepted Version - nihms675596.pdf

Supplemental Material - Jones.SM.pdf

Files

Jones.SM.pdf
Files (2.8 MB)
Name Size Download all
md5:63c7332d4d76f1aae2529b4da3750613
2.5 MB Preview Download
md5:237efe6f29c1e0315307d45dfeb697ea
329.4 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
October 19, 2023