---
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: gold
_id: '3734'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Gene expression levels fluctuate even under constant external conditions.
    Much emphasis has usually been placed on the components of this noise that are
    due to randomness in transcription and translation. Here we focus on the role
    of noise associated with the inputs to transcriptional regulation; in particular,
    we analyze the effects of random arrival times and binding of transcription factors
    to their target sites along the genome. This contribution to the total noise sets
    a fundamental physical limit to the reliability of genetic control, and has clear
    signatures, but we show that these are easily obscured by experimental limitations
    and even by conventional methods for plotting the variance vs. mean expression
    level. We argue that simple, universal models of noise dominated by transcription
    and translation are inconsistent with the embedding of gene expression in a network
    of regulatory interactions. Analysis of recent experiments on transcriptional
    control in the early Drosophila embryo shows that these results are quantitatively
    consistent with the predicted signatures of input noise, and we discuss the experiments
    needed to test the importance of input noise more generally.
acknowledgement: NSF Grant PHY-0650617; NIH grants P50 GM071508, R01 GM077599; Burroughs
  Wellcome Program in Biological Dynamics
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
arxiv: 1
author:
- first_name: Gasper
  full_name: Tkacik, Gasper
  id: 3D494DCA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Tkacik
  orcid: 0000-0002-6699-1455
- first_name: Thomas
  full_name: Gregor, Thomas
  last_name: Gregor
- first_name: William
  full_name: Bialek, William
  last_name: Bialek
citation:
  ama: Tkačik G, Gregor T, Bialek W. The role of input noise in transcriptional regulation.
    <i>PLoS One</i>. 2008;3(7). doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002774">10.1371/journal.pone.0002774</a>
  apa: Tkačik, G., Gregor, T., &#38; Bialek, W. (2008). The role of input noise in
    transcriptional regulation. <i>PLoS One</i>. Public Library of Science. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002774">https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002774</a>
  chicago: Tkačik, Gašper, Thomas Gregor, and William Bialek. “The Role of Input Noise
    in Transcriptional Regulation.” <i>PLoS One</i>. Public Library of Science, 2008.
    <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002774">https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002774</a>.
  ieee: G. Tkačik, T. Gregor, and W. Bialek, “The role of input noise in transcriptional
    regulation,” <i>PLoS One</i>, vol. 3, no. 7. Public Library of Science, 2008.
  ista: Tkačik G, Gregor T, Bialek W. 2008. The role of input noise in transcriptional
    regulation. PLoS One. 3(7).
  mla: Tkačik, Gašper, et al. “The Role of Input Noise in Transcriptional Regulation.”
    <i>PLoS One</i>, vol. 3, no. 7, Public Library of Science, 2008, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002774">10.1371/journal.pone.0002774</a>.
  short: G. Tkačik, T. Gregor, W. Bialek, PLoS One 3 (2008).
date_created: 2018-12-11T12:04:52Z
date_published: 2008-07-23T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-06-10T11:03:38Z
day: '23'
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002774
extern: '1'
external_id:
  arxiv:
  - '0701002'
  pmid:
  - '18648612'
intvolume: '         3'
issue: '7'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2475664
month: '07'
oa: 1
oa_version: None
pmid: 1
publication: PLoS One
publication_status: published
publisher: Public Library of Science
publist_id: '2498'
status: public
title: The role of input noise in transcriptional regulation
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345
volume: 3
year: '2008'
...