Negative Feedback and Physical Limits of Genes
arXiv:1408.1869 · doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2011.06.021
Abstract
This paper compares the auto-repressed gene to a simple one (a gene without auto-regulation) in terms of response time and output noise under the assumption of fixed metabolic cost. The analysis shows that, in the case of non-vanishing leak expression rate, the negative feedback reduces both the switching on and switching off times of a gene. The noise of the auto-repressed gene will be lower than the one of the simple gene only for low leak expression rates. Summing up, for low, but non-vanishing leak expression rates, the auto-repressed gene is both faster and less noisier compared to the simple one.
17 pages, 7 figures, 1 table