{"article_number":"e2524855123","external_id":{"pmid":["42406962"]},"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"month":"07","_id":"22363","OA_place":"publisher","has_accepted_license":"1","abstract":[{"text":"Eukaryotic gene regulation relies on stochastic yet controlled promoter switching, in which genes transition between transcriptionally active and inactive states. Despite the molecular complexity of this process, recent studies have revealed a surprising invariance of the “switching correlation time” (TC)—the characteristic decay time of the autocorrelation function of promoter activity fluctuations—across gene expression levels in multiple genes and organisms. A biophysically plausible explanation for this invariance has so far been lacking. Here, we show that this empirical constraint imposes stringent requirements on minimal yet realistic models of transcriptional regulation. Specifically, reproducing TC–invariance requires regulatory architectures with at least four internal states and nonequilibrium dynamics that break detailed balance. Using Bayesian inference on Drosophila gap gene expression data, we demonstrate that such models i) quantitatively reproduce the observed TC–invariance, ii) remain robust to parameter perturbations, and iii) maximize information transmission from transcription factor concentration to gene expression. Remarkably, the TC-invariant modulation strategy we identify as optimal closely parallels contemporary control-theoretic results on the modulation of stochastic switching systems. Taken together, our results suggest that eukaryotic transcriptional regulation operates in a nonequilibrium regime to balance precision, reaction-rate limitations, and energy dissipation, thereby achieving near-optimal information transmission under fundamental physical constraints.","lang":"eng"}],"type":"journal_article","file_date_updated":"2026-07-20T13:12:47Z","scopus_import":"1","dataavailabilitystatement":"Software code data have been deposited in Institute Pasteur GitHub (https://gitlab.pasteur.fr/tglab/invariantpromoterdynamicspaper) (51).","issue":"28","acknowledgement":"This work was supported by the French NationalResearch Agency (ANR-20-CE12-0028 “ChroDynE” and ANR-23-CE13-0021“GastruCyp” and ANR-10 LABX-73 “Revive;” all T.G.), and by funding from theEuropean Research Council (ERC-2023-SyG, “Dynatrans,” 101118866, T.G. andG.T.). This work was also supported in part by the U.S. NSF, through the Centerfor the Physics of Biological Function (PHY-1734030, T.G.), and by NIH GrantsR01GM097275, U01DA047730, and U01DK127429 (T.G.)","pmid":1,"status":"public","oa_version":"Published Version","supplementarymaterial":"yes","researchdata_availability":"yes","oa":1,"date_updated":"2026-07-20T13:15:11Z","article_type":"original","volume":123,"publication_identifier":{"eissn":["1091-6490"],"issn":["0027-8424"]},"OA_type":"hybrid","publisher":"National Academy of Sciences","publication":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America","ddc":["570"],"date_created":"2026-07-19T22:01:46Z","citation":{"apa":"Zoller, B., Benichou, A., Gregor, T., &#38; Tkačik, G. (2026). Invariant nonequilibrium dynamics in gene regulation optimize information flow. <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America</i>. National Academy of Sciences. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2524855123\">https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2524855123</a>","chicago":"Zoller, Benjamin, Alexis Benichou, Thomas Gregor, and Gašper Tkačik. “Invariant Nonequilibrium Dynamics in Gene Regulation Optimize Information Flow.” <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America</i>. National Academy of Sciences, 2026. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2524855123\">https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2524855123</a>.","ista":"Zoller B, Benichou A, Gregor T, Tkačik G. 2026. Invariant nonequilibrium dynamics in gene regulation optimize information flow. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 123(28), e2524855123.","ieee":"B. Zoller, A. Benichou, T. Gregor, and G. Tkačik, “Invariant nonequilibrium dynamics in gene regulation optimize information flow,” <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America</i>, vol. 123, no. 28. National Academy of Sciences, 2026.","ama":"Zoller B, Benichou A, Gregor T, Tkačik G. Invariant nonequilibrium dynamics in gene regulation optimize information flow. <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America</i>. 2026;123(28). doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2524855123\">10.1073/pnas.2524855123</a>","mla":"Zoller, Benjamin, et al. “Invariant Nonequilibrium Dynamics in Gene Regulation Optimize Information Flow.” <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America</i>, vol. 123, no. 28, e2524855123, National Academy of Sciences, 2026, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2524855123\">10.1073/pnas.2524855123</a>.","short":"B. Zoller, A. Benichou, T. Gregor, G. Tkačik, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 123 (2026)."},"intvolume":"       123","project":[{"grant_number":"101118866","_id":"7bfe6a29-9f16-11ee-852c-c0da5e2045d9","name":"Transcription in 4D: the dynamic interplay between chromatin architecture and gene expression in developing pseudo-embryos"}],"doi":"10.1073/pnas.2524855123","quality_controlled":"1","file":[{"date_created":"2026-07-20T13:12:47Z","relation":"main_file","checksum":"f4d82dd706ff1629db68d71190288350","content_type":"application/pdf","success":1,"file_size":24580098,"date_updated":"2026-07-20T13:12:47Z","creator":"dernst","file_id":"22376","access_level":"open_access","file_name":"2026_PNAS_Zoller.pdf"}],"department":[{"_id":"GaTk"}],"title":"Invariant nonequilibrium dynamics in gene regulation optimize information flow","year":"2026","user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","publication_status":"published","article_processing_charge":"Yes","corr_author":"1","day":"14","das_tickbox":"1","author":[{"last_name":"Zoller","first_name":"Benjamin","full_name":"Zoller, Benjamin"},{"full_name":"Benichou, Alexis","first_name":"Alexis","id":"3a67230c-5fc0-11ef-a673-de9a2ffadafe","last_name":"Benichou"},{"last_name":"Gregor","first_name":"Thomas","full_name":"Gregor, Thomas"},{"first_name":"Gašper","full_name":"Tkačik, Gašper","last_name":"Tkačik","id":"3D494DCA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0002-6699-1455"}],"date_published":"2026-07-14T00:00:00Z","tmp":{"image":"/images/cc_by_nc_nd.png","name":"Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)","legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode","short":"CC BY-NC-ND (4.0)"}}