Synergistic Effect of Auto-Activation and Small RNA Regulation on Gene Expression
XIONG Li-Ping1, MA Yu-Qiang1,2, TANG Lei-Han3
1National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 2Laboratory of Soft Condensed Matter Physics and Interdisciplinary Research, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006 3Department of Physics, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
Synergistic Effect of Auto-Activation and Small RNA Regulation on Gene Expression
XIONG Li-Ping1, MA Yu-Qiang1,2, TANG Lei-Han3
1National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 2Laboratory of Soft Condensed Matter Physics and Interdisciplinary Research, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006 3Department of Physics, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
Auto-activation and small ribonucleic acid (RNA)-mediated regulation are two important mechanisms in controlling gene expression. We study the synergistic effect of these two regulations on gene expression. It is found that under this combinatorial regulation, gene expression exhibits bistable behaviors at the transition regime, while each of these two regulations, if working solely, only leads to monostability. Within the stochastic framework, the base pairing strength between sRNA and mRNA plays an important role in controlling the transition time between on and off states. The noise strength of protein number in the off state approaches 1 and is smaller than that in the on state. The noise strength also depends on which parameters, the feedback strength or the synthesis rate of small RNA, are tuned in switching the gene expression on and off. Our findings may provide a new insight into gene-regulation mechanism and can be applied in synthetic biology.
Auto-activation and small ribonucleic acid (RNA)-mediated regulation are two important mechanisms in controlling gene expression. We study the synergistic effect of these two regulations on gene expression. It is found that under this combinatorial regulation, gene expression exhibits bistable behaviors at the transition regime, while each of these two regulations, if working solely, only leads to monostability. Within the stochastic framework, the base pairing strength between sRNA and mRNA plays an important role in controlling the transition time between on and off states. The noise strength of protein number in the off state approaches 1 and is smaller than that in the on state. The noise strength also depends on which parameters, the feedback strength or the synthesis rate of small RNA, are tuned in switching the gene expression on and off. Our findings may provide a new insight into gene-regulation mechanism and can be applied in synthetic biology.
XIONG Li-Ping;MA Yu-Qiang;TANG Lei-Han. Synergistic Effect of Auto-Activation and Small RNA Regulation on Gene Expression[J]. 中国物理快报, 2010, 27(9): 98701-098701.
XIONG Li-Ping, MA Yu-Qiang, TANG Lei-Han. Synergistic Effect of Auto-Activation and Small RNA Regulation on Gene Expression. Chin. Phys. Lett., 2010, 27(9): 98701-098701.
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2010, Vol. 27 
