Context-Dependent Stability and Robustness of Genetic Toggle Switches with Leaky Promoters.

ABSTRACT: Multistable switches are ubiquitous building blocks in both systems and synthetic biology. Given their central role, it is thus imperative to understand how their fundamental properties depend not only on the tunable biophysical properties of the switches themselves, but also on their genetic context. To this end, we reveal in this article how these factors shape the essential characteristics of toggle switches implemented using leaky promoters such as their stability and robustness to noise, both at single-cell and population levels. In particular, our results expose the roles that competition for scarce transcriptional and translational resources, promoter leakiness, and cell-to-cell heterogeneity collectively play. For instance, the interplay between protein expression from leaky promot

SUBMITTER: Gyorgy A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8624834 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature