Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Robert L
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2872608 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Robert Lydia L Paul Gregory G Chen Yong Y Taddei François F Baigl Damien D Lindner Ariel B AB
Molecular systems biology 20100401
The lactose operon regulation in Escherichia coli is a primary model of phenotypic switching, reminiscent of cell fate determination in higher organisms. Under conditions of bistability, an isogenic cell population partitions into two subpopulations, with the operon's genes turned on or remaining off. It is generally hypothesized that the final state of a cell depends solely on stochastic fluctuations of the network's protein concentrations, particularly on bursts of lactose permease expression. ...[more]