Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA.
Wiley Interdiscip Rev Nanomed Nanobiotechnol. 2009 Mar-Apr;1(2):214-25. doi: 10.1002/wnan.22.
Noise biology focuses on the sources, processing, and biological consequences of the inherent stochastic fluctuations in molecular transitions or interactions that control cellular behavior. These fluctuations are especially pronounced in small systems where the magnitudes of the fluctuations approach or exceed the mean value of the molecular population. Noise biology is an essential component of nanomedicine where the communication of information is across a boundary that separates small synthetic and biological systems that are bound by their size to reside in environments of large fluctuations. Here we review the fundamentals of the computational, analytical, and experimental approaches to noise biology. We review results that show that the competition between the benefits of low noise and those of low population has resulted in the evolution of genetic system architectures that produce an uneven distribution of stochasticity across the molecular components of cells and, in some cases, use noise to drive biological function. We review the exact and approximate approaches to gene circuit noise analysis and simulation, and review many of the key experimental results obtained using flow cytometry and time-lapse fluorescent microscopy. In addition, we consider the probative value of noise with a discussion of using measured noise properties to elucidate the structure and function of the underlying gene circuit. We conclude with a discussion of the frontiers of and significant future challenges for noise biology.
噪声生物学专注于控制细胞行为的分子跃迁或相互作用的固有随机波动的来源、处理和生物学后果。这些波动在小系统中尤为明显，其中波动的幅度接近或超过分子群体的平均值。噪声生物学是纳米医学的一个重要组成部分，信息的传递跨越一个边界，这个边界将小的合成和生物系统分隔开来，这些系统由于其大小而被限制在具有大波动的环境中。在这里，我们回顾了噪声生物学的计算、分析和实验方法的基础。我们回顾了一些结果，这些结果表明，低噪声和低种群的优势之间的竞争导致了遗传系统架构的进化，这种进化在细胞的分子成分中产生了不均匀的随机性分布，并且在某些情况下，利用噪声来驱动生物功能。我们回顾了基因电路噪声分析和模拟的精确和近似方法，并回顾了使用流式细胞术和延时荧光显微镜获得的许多关键实验结果。此外，我们还考虑了噪声的证明价值，并讨论了使用测量的噪声特性来阐明潜在基因电路的结构和功能。最后，我们讨论了噪声生物学的前沿和未来的重大挑战。
