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GENE EXPRESSION

Variability exposes hidden buffering in the network specifying intestinal cell fate

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 23, pages 392–393 (2022)Cite this article

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The experimental history of biological sciences commonly relies on comparing average signals between different phenotypic groups. The fact that biological signals exist along a spectrum and vary within a population has often been neglected. Variance is frequently interpreted in the context of technical or experimental reproducibility, and treated as a parameter to be minimized. However, a body of evidence spanning almost 100 years suggests that variance reflects important biological parameters, and can provide insight into human development and disease.

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References

Original article

  • Raj, A. et al. Variability in gene expression underlies incomplete penetrance. Nature 463, 913–918 (2010)

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Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges C. Wells (University of Melbourne), J. Mar (University of Queensland) and J. Quackenbush (Harvard University) for more than 10 years of mentorship and collaboration on this topic.

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  1. Program for Organogenesis and Cancer, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Elizabeth Mason

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  1. Elizabeth Mason
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Correspondence to Elizabeth Mason.

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Mason, E. Variability exposes hidden buffering in the network specifying intestinal cell fate. Nat Rev Genet 23, 392–393 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-022-00496-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-022-00496-3

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