Enhancement of the Stability of Genetic Switches by Overlapping Upstream Regulatory Domains

Patrick B. Warren and Pieter Rein ten Wolde
Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 128101 – Published 25 March 2004

Abstract

We study genetic switches formed from pairs of mutually repressing operons. The switch stability is characterized by a well-defined lifetime, which grows very rapidly, albeit subexponentially, with the number of copies of the most-expressed transcription factor. The switch stability can be drastically enhanced by overlapping the upstream regulatory domains such that competing regulatory molecules mutually exclude each other. Our results suggest that robustness against biochemical noise can provide a selection pressure that drives operons together in the course of evolution.

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  • Received 4 November 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.128101

©2004 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Patrick B. Warren1,2 and Pieter Rein ten Wolde1,3

  • 1FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Kruislaan 407, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • 2Unilever R&D Port Sunlight, Bebington, Wirral CH63 3JW, United Kingdom
  • 3Division of Physics and Astronomy, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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Issue

Vol. 92, Iss. 12 — 26 March 2004

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