Conflict between noise and plasticity in yeast.

ABSTRACT: Gene expression responds to changes in conditions but also stochastically among individuals. In budding yeast, both expression responsiveness across conditions ("plasticity") and cell-to-cell variation ("noise") have been quantified for thousands of genes and found to correlate across genes. It has been argued therefore that noise and plasticity may be strongly coupled and mechanistically linked. This is consistent with some theoretical ideas, but a strong coupling between noise and plasticity also has the potential to introduce cost-benefit conflicts during evolution. For example, if high plasticity is beneficial (genes need to respond to the environment), but noise is detrimental (fluctuations are harmful), then strong coupling should be disfavored. Here, evidence is presented that cost-

SUBMITTER: Lehner B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2973811 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature