Adaptive noise
Open accessAbstract
In biology, noise implies error and disorder and is therefore something which organisms may seek to minimize and mitigate against. We argue that such noise can be adaptive. Recent studies have shown that gene expression can be noisy, noise can be genetically controlled, genes and gene networks vary in how noisy they are and noise generates phenotypic differences among genetically identical cells. Such phenotypic differences can have fitness benefits, suggesting that evolution can shape noise and that noise may be adaptive. For example, gene networks can generate bistable states resulting in phenotypic diversity and switching among individual cells of a genotype, which may be a bet hedging strategy. Here, we review the sources of noise in gene expression, the extent to which noise in biological systems may be adaptive and suggest that applying evolutionary rigour to the study of noise is necessary to fully understand organismal phenotypes.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In bacterial isogenic variants, although cells contain the same genetic material, their protein levels can vary due to stochastic events associated with gene expression and regulation.
“In bacterial isogenic variants, although the cells contain the same genetic material, their protein levels can vary due to stochastic events associated with gene expression and regulation [31,32].”
From Microbiota of Cheese Ecosystems: A Perspective on Cheesemaking (2025) · cites this paper as [32]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Stochastic Gene Expression in a Single Cell
Elowitz, M. B., Levine, A. J., Siggia, E. D., & Swain, P. S. (2002) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1070919 · Cited by 5,441 · see citing works
Network motifs: theory and experimental approaches
Alon, U. (2007) · Nature Reviews Genetics · doi:10.1038/nrg2102 · Cited by 3,279 · see citing works
Nature, Nurture, or Chance: Stochastic Gene Expression and Its Consequences
Raj, A., & van Oudenaarden, A. (2008) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2008.09.050 · Cited by 2,593 · see citing works
Single-cell proteomic analysis of S. cerevisiae reveals the architecture of biological noise
Newman, J. R. S., Ghaemmaghami, S., Ihmels, J., Breslow, D. K., Noble, M., DeRisi, J. L., & Weissman, J. S. (2006) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature04785 · Cited by 1,483 · see citing works
Control of Stochasticity in Eukaryotic Gene Expression
Raser, J. M., & O'Shea, E. K. (2004) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1098641 · Cited by 1,425 · see citing works
Phenotypic Diversity, Population Growth, and Information in Fluctuating Environments
Kussell, E. L., & Leibler, S. (2005) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1114383 · Cited by 1,357 · see citing works
Cellular Decision Making and Biological Noise: From Microbes to Mammals
Balázsi, G., van Oudenaarden, A., & Collins, J. J. (2011) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2011.01.030 · Cited by 1,016 · see citing works
Stochastic switching as a survival strategy in fluctuating environments
Açar, M., Mettetal, J. T., & van Oudenaarden, A. (2008) · Nature Genetics · doi:10.1038/ng.110 · Cited by 899 · see citing works
The evolutionary ecology of individual phenotypic plasticity in wild populations
Nussey, D. H., Wilson, A. J., & Brommer, J. E. (2007) · Journal of Evolutionary Biology · doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2007.01300.x · Cited by 892 · see citing works
Using Gene Expression Noise to Understand Gene Regulation
Munsky, B., Neuert, G., & van Oudenaarden, A. (2012) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1216379 · Cited by 745 · see citing works
Dubnau, D. A., & Losick, R. M. (2006) · Molecular Microbiology · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2958.2006.05249.x · Cited by 729 · see citing works
Experimental evolution of bet hedging
Beaumont, H. J. E., Gallie, J., Kost, C., Ferguson, G. C., & Rainey, P. B. (2009) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature08504 · Cited by 665 · see citing works
Variability in gene expression underlies incomplete penetrance
Raj, A., Rifkin, S. A., Andersen, E. C., & van Oudenaarden, A. (2010) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature08781 · Cited by 642 · see citing works
Losick, R. M., & Desplan, C. (2008) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1147888 · Cited by 627 · see citing works
Phenotypic Consequences of Promoter-Mediated Transcriptional Noise
Blake, W. J., Balázsi, G., Kohanski, M. A., Isaacs, F. J., Murphy, K. F., Kuang, Y., Cantor, C. R., Walt, D. R., & Collins, J. J. (2006) · Molecular Cell · doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2006.11.003 · Cited by 617 · see citing works
Modes of response to environmental change and the elusive empirical evidence for bet hedging
Simons, A. M. (2011) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.0176 · Cited by 562 · see citing works
Natural Selection for Variances in Offspring Numbers: A New Evolutionary Principle
Gillespie, J. H. (1977) · The American Naturalist · doi:10.1086/283230 · Cited by 549 · see citing works
(2004) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195138962.001.0001 · Cited by 543 · see citing works
Stochastic Gene Expression in Fluctuating Environments
Thattai, M., & van Oudenaarden, A. (2004) · Genetics · doi:10.1534/genetics.167.1.523 · Cited by 526 · see citing works
Non-genetic individuality: chance in the single cell
Spudich, J. L., & Koshland, D. E. (1976) · Nature · doi:10.1038/262467a0 · Cited by 522 · see citing works
Enhancement of cellular memory by reducing stochastic transitions
Açar, M., Becskei, A., & van Oudenaarden, A. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature03524 · Cited by 484 · see citing works
Systematic changes in gene expression patterns following adaptive evolution in yeast
Ferea, T., Botstein, D., Brown, P. O., & Rosenzweig, R. F. (1999) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.96.17.9721 · Cited by 479 · see citing works
FTO genotype is associated with phenotypic variability of body mass index
Yang, J., Loos, R., Powell, J. E., Medland, S., Speliotes, E. K., Chasman, D., Rose, L., Thorleifsson, G., Steinthorsdottir, V., Mägi, R., et al. (2012) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature11401 · Cited by 457 · see citing works
NATURAL SELECTION FOR WITHIN-GENERATION VARIANCE IN OFFSPRING NUMBER
Gillespie, J. H. (1974) · Genetics · doi:10.1093/genetics/76.3.601 · Cited by 434 · see citing works
Noise Minimization in Eukaryotic Gene Expression
Fraser, H. B., Hirsh, A. E., Giaever, G. N., Kumm, J., & Eisen, M. B. (2004) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0020137 · Cited by 419 · see citing works
Fundamental limits on the suppression of molecular fluctuations
Lestas, I., Vinnicombe, G., & Paulsson, J. (2010) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature09333 · Cited by 415 · see citing works
Bet Hedging in Yeast by Heterogeneous, Age-Correlated Expression of a Stress Protectant
Levy, S. F., Ziv, N., & Siegal, M. L. (2012) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001325 · Cited by 371 · see citing works
Stabilization of cooperative virulence by the expression of an avirulent phenotype
Diard, M., García, V., Maier, L., Remus‐Emsermann, M. N. P., Regoes, R. R., Ackermann, M., & Hardt, W. (2013) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature11913 · Cited by 324 · see citing works
Strategies for cellular decision‐making
Perkins, T. J., & Swain, P. S. (2009) · Molecular Systems Biology · doi:10.1038/msb.2009.83 · Cited by 317 · see citing works
MAPK-mediated bimodal gene expression and adaptive gradient sensing in yeast
Paliwal, S., Iglesias, P. A., Campbell, K., Hilioti, Z., Groisman, A., & Levchenko, A. (2007) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature05561 · Cited by 291 · see citing works
Gene network shaping of inherent noise spectra
Austin, D. W., Allen, M. S., McCollum, J. M., Dar, R. D., Wilgus, J. R., Sayler, G. S., Samatova, N. F., Cox, C. D., & Simpson, M. L. (2006) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature04194 · Cited by 288 · see citing works
Architecture-Dependent Noise Discriminates Functionally Analogous Differentiation Circuits
Çağatay, T., Turcotte, M., Elowitz, M. B., et al. (2009) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2009.07.046 · Cited by 260 · see citing works
Lehner, B. (2008) · Molecular Systems Biology · doi:10.1038/msb.2008.11 · Cited by 218 · see citing works
Stochastic Pulse Regulation in Bacterial Stress Response
Locke, J. C. W., Young, J. W., Fontes, M. E., Jiménez, M. J. H., & Elowitz, M. B. (2011) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1208144 · Cited by 213 · see citing works
The stochastic nature of biochemical networks
Shahrezaei, V., & Swain, P. S. (2008) · Current Opinion in Biotechnology · doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2008.06.011 · Cited by 206 · see citing works
Predicting mutation outcome from early stochastic variation in genetic interaction partners
Burga, A. R., Casanueva, O., & Lehner, B. (2011) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature10665 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
Bet hedging or not? A guide to proper classification of microbial survival strategies
de Jong, I. G., Haccou, P., & Kuipers, O. P. (2011) · BioEssays · doi:10.1002/bies.201000127 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
A single molecule view of gene expression
Larson, D. R., Singer, R. H., & Zenklusen, D. (2009) · Trends in Cell Biology · doi:10.1016/j.tcb.2009.08.008 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
Cellular Noise Regulons Underlie Fluctuations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Stewart-Ornstein, J., Weissman, J. S., & El-Samad, H. (2012) · Molecular Cell · doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2011.11.035 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
A Genome-Wide Analysis of Promoter-Mediated Phenotypic Noise in Escherichia coli
Silander, O., Nikolić, N., Zaslaver, A., Bren, A., Kikoin, I., Alon, U. S., & Ackermann, M. (2012) · PLoS Genetics · doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002443 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
Cell-to-Cell Stochastic Variation in Gene Expression Is a Complex Genetic Trait
Ansel, J., Duplus‐Bottin, H., Rodriguez-Beltran, C., Damon‐Soubeyrand, C., Nagarajan, M., Fehrmann, S., François, J., & Yvert, G. (2008) · PLoS Genetics · doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000049 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Fitness Trade-Offs and Environmentally Induced Mutation Buffering in Isogenic <i>C. elegans</i>
Casanueva, M. O., Burga, A., & Lehner, B. (2012) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1213491 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
Genome‐wide transcriptional plasticity underlies cellular adaptation to novel challenge
Stern, S., Dror, T. W., Stolovicki, E., Brenner, N., & Braun, E. (2007) · Molecular Systems Biology · doi:10.1038/msb4100147 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Noise and Robustness in Prokaryotic Regulatory Networks
Silva‐Rocha, R., & de Lorenzo, V. (2010) · Annual Review of Microbiology · doi:10.1146/annurev.micro.091208.073229 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Geometry, epistasis, and developmental patterning
Corson, F., & Siggia, E. D. (2012) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1201505109 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Stochastic Mechanisms of Cell Fate Specification that Yield Random or Robust Outcomes
Johnston, R. J., & Desplan, C. (2010) · Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology · doi:10.1146/annurev-cellbio-100109-104113 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Genomic Analysis of QTLs and Genes Altering Natural Variation in Stochastic Noise
Jiménez‐Gómez, J. M., Corwin, J., Joseph, B., Maloof, J., & Kliebenstein, D. J. (2011) · PLoS Genetics · doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002295 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Conflict between Noise and Plasticity in Yeast
Lehner, B. (2010) · PLoS Genetics · doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1001185 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Negative Feedback Through mRNA Provides the Best Control of Gene-Expression Noise
Singh, A. (2011) · IEEE Transactions on NanoBioscience · doi:10.1109/tnb.2011.2168826 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Noisy information processing through transcriptional regulation
Libby, E., Perkins, T. J., & Swain, P. S. (2007) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0608963104 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Zhang, X., & Hill, W. G. (2005) · Evolution · doi:10.1111/j.0014-3820.2005.tb01774.x · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Birtwistle, M. R., Rauch, J., Kiyatkin, A. B., Aksamitiene, E., Dobrzyński, M., Hoek, J. B., Kölch, W., Ogunnaike, B. A., & Kholodenko, B. Ν. (2012) · BMC Systems Biology · doi:10.1186/1752-0509-6-109 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Non-transcriptional regulatory processes shape transcriptional network dynamics
Ray, J. C. J., Tabor, J. J., & Igoshin, O. A. (2011) · Nature Reviews Microbiology · doi:10.1038/nrmicro2667 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Massey, S. (2015) · Life · doi:10.3390/life5021301 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Microbiota of Cheese Ecosystems: A Perspective on Cheesemaking
Neviani, E., Gatti, M., Gardini, F., & Levante, A. (2025) · Foods · doi:10.3390/foods14050830 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“In bacterial isogenic variants, although the cells contain the same genetic material, their protein levels can vary due to stochastic events associated with gene expression and regulation [31,32].”
Neviani, E., Levante, A., & Gatti, M. (2024) · Fermentation · doi:10.3390/fermentation10040186 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
- Authors
- Viney, M., & Reece, S. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Viney, Mark
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2013-09-22
- Volume
- 280
- Issue
- 1767
- Pages
- 20131104
- ISSN
- 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
- 0962-8452
- 1471-2954
- PMC
- PMC3735249
- OpenAlex
- W4230995230
- Cited by
- 73
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 0.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Explore Bristol Research (submittedVersion)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (082234, 094462, 095831)
- Natural Environment Research Council (NE/K006029/1)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gene Regulatory Network Analysis
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › stochastic dynamics and bifurcation
- Keywords
- biological noise, stochastic gene expression, adaptive noise, phenotypic heterogeneity, gene regulatory networks, bistability, bet-hedging
- MeSH terms
- Biological Evolution, Models, Genetic, Phenotype, Gene Expression, Gene Regulatory Networks, Genetic Fitness
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
