Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Subscribe

Logo for

Science 317 (5837): 526-529

Copyright © 2007 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Noise in Gene Expression Determines Cell Fate in Bacillus subtilis

Hédia Maamar,{dagger} Arjun Raj,*{dagger} David Dubnau{ddagger}

Abstract: Random cell-to-cell variations in gene expression within an isogenic population can lead to transitions between alternative states of gene expression. Little is known about how these variations (noise) in natural systems affect such transitions. In Bacillus subtilis, noise in ComK, the protein that regulates competence for DNA uptake, is thought to cause cells to transition to the competent state in which genes encoding DNA uptake proteins are expressed. We demonstrate that noise in comK expression selects cells for competence and that experimental reduction of this noise decreases the number of competent cells. We also show that transitions are limited temporally by a reduction in comK transcription. These results illustrate how such stochastic transitions are regulated in a natural system and suggest that noise characteristics are subject to evolutionary forces.

Public Health Research Institute Center, New Jersey Medical School, 225 Warren Street, Newark, NJ 07103, USA.

{dagger} These authors contributed equally to this work.

* Present address: Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

{ddagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dubnauda{at}umdnj.edu

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Circuit-level input integration in bacterial gene regulation.
L. Espinar, M. Dies, T. Cagatay, G. M. Suel, and J. Garcia-Ojalvo (2013)
PNAS 110, 7091-7096
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Dynamic Persistence of Antibiotic-Stressed Mycobacteria.
Y. Wakamoto, N. Dhar, R. Chait, K. Schneider, F. Signorino-Gelo, S. Leibler, and J. D. McKinney (2013)
Science 339, 91-95
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Microbial Scout Hypothesis, Stochastic Exit from Dormancy, and the Nature of Slow Growers.
S. Buerger, A. Spoering, E. Gavrish, C. Leslin, L. Ling, and S. S. Epstein (2012)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 78, 3221-3228
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Locked Nucleic Acid and Flow Cytometry-Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization for the Detection of Bacterial Small Noncoding RNAs.
K. L. Robertson and G. J. Vora (2012)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 78, 14-20
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Exclusion rules, bottlenecks and the evolution of stochastic phenotype switching.
E. Libby and P. B. Rainey (2011)
Proc R Soc B 278, 3574-3583
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Separating intrinsic from extrinsic fluctuations in dynamic biological systems.
A. Hilfinger and J. Paulsson (2011)
PNAS 108, 12167-12172
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Paradoxical persistence through mixed-system dynamics: towards a unified perspective of reversal behaviours in evolutionary ecology.
P. D. Williams and A. Hastings (2011)
Proc R Soc B 278, 1281-1290
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Time-Lapse Transcription.
G. Nair and A. Raj (2011)
Science 332, 431-432
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Response dynamics of phosphorelays suggest their potential utility in cell signalling.
A. Csikasz-Nagy, L. Cardelli, and O. S. Soyer (2011)
J R Soc Interface 8, 480-488
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Nuclear Origins of Cell-to-Cell Variability.
Z. Waks and P. A. Silver (2011)
Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol
   Abstract »    PDF »
E. coli, What a Noisy Bug.
S. Tyagi (2010)
Science 329, 518-519
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Quantifying E. coli Proteome and Transcriptome with Single-Molecule Sensitivity in Single Cells.
Y. Taniguchi, P. J. Choi, G.-W. Li, H. Chen, M. Babu, J. Hearn, A. Emili, and X. S. Xie (2010)
Science 329, 533-538
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biological role of noise encoded in a genetic network motif.
M. Kittisopikul and G. M. Suel (2010)
PNAS 107, 13300-13305
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Bacteria determine fate by playing dice with controlled odds.
E. Ben-Jacob and D. Schultz (2010)
PNAS 107, 13197-13198
   Full Text »    PDF »
Broadly heterogeneous activation of the master regulator for sporulation in Bacillus subtilis.
A. Chastanet, D. Vitkup, G.-C. Yuan, T. M. Norman, J. S. Liu, and R. M. Losick (2010)
PNAS 107, 8486-8491
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Tuning and controlling gene expression noise in synthetic gene networks.
K. F. Murphy, R. M. Adams, X. Wang, G. Balazsi, and J. J. Collins (2010)
Nucleic Acids Res. 38, 2712-2726
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Swim or chill: lifestyles of a bacillus.
D. Dubnau (2010)
Genes & Dev. 24, 735-737
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
An epigenetic switch governing daughter cell separation in Bacillus subtilis.
Y. Chai, T. Norman, R. Kolter, and R. Losick (2010)
Genes & Dev. 24, 754-765
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Epigenetic responses to environmental change and their evolutionary implications.
B. M. Turner (2009)
Phil Trans R Soc B 364, 3403-3418
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Noisy Paracrine Signal Determines the Cellular NF-{kappa}B Response to Lipopolysaccharide.
T. K. Lee, E. M. Denny, J. C. Sanghvi, J. E. Gaston, N. D. Maynard, J. J. Hughey, and M. W. Covert (2009)
Science Signaling 2, ra65
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evolution of Stochastic Switching Rates in Asymmetric Fitness Landscapes.
M. Salathe, J. Van Cleve, and M. W. Feldman (2009)
Genetics 182, 1159-1164
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Modeling stochasticity and robustness in gene regulatory networks.
A. Garg, K. Mohanram, A. Di Cara, G. De Micheli, and I. Xenarios (2009)
Bioinformatics 25, i101-i109
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Negative autoregulation linearizes the dose-response and suppresses the heterogeneity of gene expression.
D. Nevozhay, R. M. Adams, K. F. Murphy, K. Josic, and G. Balazsi (2009)
PNAS 106, 5123-5128
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Social Interactions and Distribution of Bacillus subtilis Pherotypes at Microscale.
P. Stefanic and I. Mandic-Mulec (2009)
J. Bacteriol. 191, 1756-1764
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Maintaining a stochastic neuronal cell fate decision.
D. Vasiliauskas, R. Johnston, and C. Desplan (2009)
Genes & Dev. 23, 385-390
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Determination of cell fate selection during phage lambda infection.
F. St-Pierre and D. Endy (2008)
PNAS 105, 20705-20710
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A genetic timer through noise-induced stabilization of an unstable state.
M. Turcotte, J. Garcia-Ojalvo, and G. M. Suel (2008)
PNAS 105, 15732-15737
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stochasticity and Cell Fate.
R. Losick and C. Desplan (2008)
Science 320, 65-68
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Loss of seven-up from Drosophila R1/R6 photoreceptors reveals a stochastic fate choice that is normally biased by Notch.
A. C. Miller, H. Seymour, C. King, and T. G. Herman (2008)
Development 135, 707-715
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Wnt/Notch signalling and information processing during development.
P. Hayward, T. Kalmar, and A. Martinez Arias (2008)
Development 135, 411-424
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Molecular level stochastic model for competence cycles in Bacillus subtilis.
D. Schultz, E. Ben Jacob, J. N. Onuchic, and P. G. Wolynes (2007)
PNAS 104, 17582-17587
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A High-Resolution Root Spatiotemporal Map Reveals Dominant Expression Patterns.
S. M. Brady, D. A. Orlando, J.-Y. Lee, J. Y. Wang, J. Koch, J. R. Dinneny, D. Mace, U. Ohler, and P. N. Benfey (2007)
Science 318, 801-806
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
MICROBIOLOGY: Necessary Noise.
J. T. Mettetal and A. v. Oudenaarden (2007)
Science 317, 463-464
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882