A Novel Feedback Loop That Controls Bimodal Expression of Genetic Competence.

ABSTRACT: Gene expression can be highly heterogeneous in isogenic cell populations. An extreme type of heterogeneity is the so-called bistable or bimodal expression, whereby a cell can differentiate into two alternative expression states. Stochastic fluctuations of protein levels, also referred to as noise, provide the necessary source of heterogeneity that must be amplified by specific genetic circuits in order to obtain a bimodal response. A classical model of bimodal differentiation is the activation of genetic competence in Bacillus subtilis. The competence transcription factor ComK activates transcription of its own gene, and an intricate regulatory network controls the switch to competence and ensures its reversibility. However, it is noise in ComK expression that determines which cells activa

SUBMITTER: Gamba P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4482431 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature