A Simple Screen to Identify Promoters Conferring High Levels of Phenotypic Noise
2008

Identifying Noisy Gene Promoters in Salmonella

Sample size: 240 publication 10 minutes Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Nikki E. Freed, Olin K. Silander, Bärbel Stecher, Alex Böhm, Wolf-Dietrich Hardt, Martin Ackermann

Primary Institution: Institute of Integrative Biology, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zurich

Hypothesis

Can a method be developed to identify genes with high levels of phenotypic noise in Salmonella enterica?

Conclusion

The study successfully identified promoters in Salmonella that exhibit high levels of phenotypic noise, particularly those involved in flagellar synthesis.

Supporting Evidence

  • Promoters controlling flagellar synthesis showed the highest levels of phenotypic noise.
  • Fluctuating selection enriched for clones with high coefficients of variation in fluorescence.
  • The method allows for identifying noisy promoters in various organisms.

Takeaway

Scientists found a way to spot genes in bacteria that change a lot, which might help them survive better in different situations.

Methodology

The researchers created a genomic plasmid library and used fluorescence-activated cell sorting to select for promoters with high levels of noise in gene expression.

Limitations

The study primarily focused on a single bacterial species, which may limit the generalizability of the findings.

Statistical Information

P-Value

0.016

Statistical Significance

p<0.001

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1371/journal.pgen.1000307

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