Colored extrinsic fluctuations and stochastic gene expression.

ABSTRACT: Stochasticity is both exploited and controlled by cells. Although the intrinsic stochasticity inherent in biochemistry is relatively well understood, cellular variation, or 'noise', is predominantly generated by interactions of the system of interest with other stochastic systems in the cell or its environment. Such extrinsic fluctuations are nonspecific, affecting many system components, and have a substantial lifetime, comparable to the cell cycle (they are 'colored'). Here, we extend the standard stochastic simulation algorithm to include extrinsic fluctuations. We show that these fluctuations affect mean protein numbers and intrinsic noise, can speed up typical network response times, and can explain trends in high-throughput measurements of variation. If extrinsic fluctuations in two

SUBMITTER: Shahrezaei V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2424296 | biostudies-literature | 2008

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature