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Consequences Of Stochastic Mrna Synthesis In A Gene Regulatory Pathway, Khyati Shah

Dissertations

Gene expression is a stochastic process, with elements of randomness present in both transcription and translation. This stochasticity results in cell-to-cell variation in the amounts of gene products, mRNAs and proteins, and is observed in organisms ranging from bacteria and yeast to higher eukaryotes. Randomness in the activation and inactivation of a gene is the preliminary cause of this variation. At the level of proteins, these variations are buffered compared to levels of mRNA, due to the longer lifespan of proteins. Nevertheless, there is substantial variation observed at the level of proteins, resulting in phenotypic diversity among genetically identical cells. …