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Abstract:
Systems biology approaches combining theoretical modelling with
experiments have been singularly successful in uncovering novel features
of cellular phenomena. One such feature is that of binary gene expression
in which the expression level is either low or high, i.e., digital in
nature. This gives rise to two distinct subpopulations in a population of
genetically identical cells. In this talk, we discuss the possible origins
of binary gene expression with emphasis on three principal mechanisms:
purely stochastic, positive feedback-based and emergent bistability. We
illustrate each mechanism with examples from recent experiments. |