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A quantitative comparison of sRNA-based and protein-based gene regulation

Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) have important functions as genetic regulators in prokaryotes. sRNAs act post-transcriptionally through complementary pairing with target mRNAs to regulate protein expression. We use a quantitative approach to compare and contrast sRNAs with conventional transcription f...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Mehta, Pankaj, Goyal, Sidhartha, Wingreen, Ned S
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2583084/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18854820
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/msb.2008.58
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author Mehta, Pankaj
Goyal, Sidhartha
Wingreen, Ned S
author_facet Mehta, Pankaj
Goyal, Sidhartha
Wingreen, Ned S
author_sort Mehta, Pankaj
collection PubMed
description Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) have important functions as genetic regulators in prokaryotes. sRNAs act post-transcriptionally through complementary pairing with target mRNAs to regulate protein expression. We use a quantitative approach to compare and contrast sRNAs with conventional transcription factors (TFs) to better understand the advantages of each form of regulation. In particular, we calculate the steady-state behavior, noise properties, frequency-dependent gain (amplification), and dynamical response to large input signals of both forms of regulation. Although the mean steady-state behavior of sRNA-regulated proteins exhibits a distinctive tunable threshold linear behavior, our analysis shows that transcriptional bursting leads to significantly higher intrinsic noise in sRNA-based regulation than in TF-based regulation in a large range of expression levels and limits the ability of sRNAs to perform quantitative signaling. Nonetheless, we find that sRNAs are better than TFs at filtering noise in input signals. Additionally, we find that sRNAs allow cells to respond rapidly to large changes in input signals. These features suggest a ‘niche' for sRNAs in allowing cells to transition quickly yet reliably between distinct states. This functional niche is consistent with the widespread appearance of sRNAs in stress response and quasi-developmental networks in prokaryotes.
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spelling pubmed-25830842008-11-14 A quantitative comparison of sRNA-based and protein-based gene regulation Mehta, Pankaj Goyal, Sidhartha Wingreen, Ned S Mol Syst Biol Article Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) have important functions as genetic regulators in prokaryotes. sRNAs act post-transcriptionally through complementary pairing with target mRNAs to regulate protein expression. We use a quantitative approach to compare and contrast sRNAs with conventional transcription factors (TFs) to better understand the advantages of each form of regulation. In particular, we calculate the steady-state behavior, noise properties, frequency-dependent gain (amplification), and dynamical response to large input signals of both forms of regulation. Although the mean steady-state behavior of sRNA-regulated proteins exhibits a distinctive tunable threshold linear behavior, our analysis shows that transcriptional bursting leads to significantly higher intrinsic noise in sRNA-based regulation than in TF-based regulation in a large range of expression levels and limits the ability of sRNAs to perform quantitative signaling. Nonetheless, we find that sRNAs are better than TFs at filtering noise in input signals. Additionally, we find that sRNAs allow cells to respond rapidly to large changes in input signals. These features suggest a ‘niche' for sRNAs in allowing cells to transition quickly yet reliably between distinct states. This functional niche is consistent with the widespread appearance of sRNAs in stress response and quasi-developmental networks in prokaryotes. Nature Publishing Group 2008-10-14 /pmc/articles/PMC2583084/ /pubmed/18854820 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/msb.2008.58 Text en Copyright © 2008, EMBO and Nature Publishing Group http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Creation of derivative works is permitted but the resulting work may be distributed only under the same or similar licence to this one. This licence does not permit commercial exploitation without specific permission.
spellingShingle Article
Mehta, Pankaj
Goyal, Sidhartha
Wingreen, Ned S
A quantitative comparison of sRNA-based and protein-based gene regulation
title A quantitative comparison of sRNA-based and protein-based gene regulation
title_full A quantitative comparison of sRNA-based and protein-based gene regulation
title_fullStr A quantitative comparison of sRNA-based and protein-based gene regulation
title_full_unstemmed A quantitative comparison of sRNA-based and protein-based gene regulation
title_short A quantitative comparison of sRNA-based and protein-based gene regulation
title_sort quantitative comparison of srna-based and protein-based gene regulation
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2583084/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18854820
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/msb.2008.58
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