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Genetics

Noise rules

Nature volume 480, pages 188–189 (2011)Cite this article

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The idea that gene variants alone control an organism's traits is overly simple. A study of the effects of gene interactions on the outcomes of random variation in gene expression reveals the complex reality. See Letter p.250

Ever since Gregor Mendel and Thomas Morgan crystallized the idea of the gene as the heritable unit, biologists have been trying to map the relationship between genotype (the complement of gene variants present in an individual) and phenotype (an individual's physical characteristics). On page 250 of this issue, Lehner and colleagues1 provide insight into the complexity of this relationship by showing how random variation in the expression of members of pairs of interacting genes can act synergistically to affect the development of a complex organism — the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans.

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Figure 1: Noise regulons and gene expression.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hana El-Samad is in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158, USA.,

    Hana El-Samad

  2. Jonathan S. Weissman is in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158, USA. J.S.W. is also at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.,

    Jonathan S. Weissman

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  1. Hana El-Samad
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  2. Jonathan S. Weissman
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Correspondence to Hana El-Samad or Jonathan S. Weissman.

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El-Samad, H., Weissman, J. Noise rules. Nature 480, 188–189 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/480188a

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