And the noise played on: stochastic gene expression and HIV-1 infection.
Stochastic gene expression has been implicated in a variety of cellular processes, including cell differentiation and disease. In this issue of Cell, take an integrated computational-experimental approach to study the Tat transactivation feedback loop of HIV-1. They show that fluctuations in a key regulator, Tat, in an isogenic population of infected cells result in two distinct expression states corresponding to latent and productive HIV-1 infection. These findings demonstrate the importance of stochastic gene expression in molecular "decision-making."
Blake
William J
WJ
Center for BioDynamics and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, MA 02215, USA.
Collins
James J
JJ
D044822:Biodiversity; D003198:Computer Simulation; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D015756:Genes, tat; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D016086:Lentivirus / Q000235:genetics; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014779:Virus Replication