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Engineering cellular symphonies out of transcriptional noise

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 22, pages 369–370 (2021)Cite this article

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Development unfolds through a series of orchestrated spatial and temporal gene-expression patterns. Despite relying on the noisy process of transcription, expression patterns remain robust to myriad disturbances. To achieve the goal of building complex tissues from the bottom up, synthetic biology must learn how to buffer and harness transcriptional noise.

Eukaryotic cells navigate a chaotic environment, in which stochastic cellular processes converge to generate cellular phenotypes. Emerging from the chaos, precisely coordinated patterns of gene expression support complex cellular behaviours such as tissue homeostasis and developmental patterning. Following cell-fate transitions, cells retain stable identities over long periods of time despite internal and external disturbances. How do cell populations maintain stability while retaining sufficient plasticity to respond to external cues and insults? Endogenous mechanisms that buffer and harness transcriptional noise are emerging as regulatory systems that confer both stability and plasticity. Whereas current synthetic circuits are designed primarily around perturbing mean levels of gene expression, insights gained from studying transcription regulation suggest that harnessing transcriptional noise holds promise for engineering eukaryotic cells and tissues.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Christopher P. Johnstone & Kate E. Galloway

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  1. Christopher P. Johnstone
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  2. Kate E. Galloway
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Correspondence to Kate E. Galloway.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Johnstone, C.P., Galloway, K.E. Engineering cellular symphonies out of transcriptional noise. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 22, 369–370 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-021-00359-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-021-00359-5

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