title: Noise Expands the Response Range of the Bacillus subtilis Competence Circuit.
abstract: Gene regulatory circuits must contend with intrinsic noise that arises due to finite numbers of proteins. While some circuits act to reduce this noise, others appear to exploit it. A striking example is the competence circuit in Bacillus subtilis, which exhibits much larger noise in the duration of its competence events than a synthetically constructed analog that performs the same function. Here, using stochastic modeling and fluorescence microscopy, we show that this larger noise allows cells to exit terminal phenotypic states, which expands the range of stress levels to which cells are responsive and leads to phenotypic heterogeneity at the population level. This is an important example of how noise confers a functional benefit in a genetic decision-making circuit.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States of America.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mugler
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America.|Division of Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kittisopikul
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States of America.|Division of Natural Sciences, Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, Indiana, United States of America.
authors.forename: Luke
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hayden
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jintao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Chris H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Wiggins
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Gürol M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Süel
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie Curie and École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Aleksandra M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Walczak
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks / Q000235:genetics*; D056084:Genetic Fitness / Q000235:genetics*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D015233:Models, Statistical; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins