Bistability versus bimodal distributions in gene regulatory processes from population balance.

ABSTRACT: In recent times, stochastic treatments of gene regulatory processes have appeared in the literature in which a cell exposed to a signaling molecule in its environment triggers the synthesis of a specific protein through a network of intracellular reactions. The stochastic nature of this process leads to a distribution of protein levels in a population of cells as determined by a Fokker-Planck equation. Often instability occurs as a consequence of two (stable) steady state protein levels, one at the low end representing the "off" state, and the other at the high end representing the "on" state for a given concentration of the signaling molecule within a suitable range. A consequence of such bistability has been the appearance of bimodal distributions indicating two different populations, on

SUBMITTER: Shu CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3161895 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature