Project 5: Evolvability and robustness in simple synthetic modules (Elowitz) (#31-32)We studied the role of noise in natural and man-made bacterial transcriptional networks. Our original aim ofexploring the evolvability of these modules led us to methods to analyze them more precisely, by asking hownoise affects their operation: 1) We performed a study of the cis-regulatory logic in prokaryotic promoters,based on a combinatorial promoter library composed of modular sequence elements. This study identified anumber of heuristic rules for programming and modulating the combinatorial logic behavior of prokaryoticpromoters. 2) We analyzed transient differentiation system that leads to competence in B. subtilis. Tounderstand the operation of this excitable switch, we varied promoter strengths, circuit architecture, andstochastic fluctuations (noise). We identified the independent tuning of differentiation frequency and durationas a design principle, and showed that noise (fluctuations) is actually required for cellular differentiation37.
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