Noisy cell growth rate leads to fluctuating protein concentration in bacteria

Abstract

The present study discusses a prime cause of fluctuating protein concentrations, which play a significant role in generating phenotypic diversity in bacteria. A genetic circuit integrated in a bacterial genome was used to evaluate the cell-to-cell variation in protein concentration. A simple dynamic model, comprising terms for synthesis and dilution, was used to elucidate the contributions of distinct noises to the fluctuation in cell protein concentration. Experimental and theoretical results demonstrated that noise in the rate of increase in cell volume (cell growth rate) serves as a source of extrinsic noise that accounts for dozens of percent of the total noise, whereas intrinsic noise in protein synthesis makes only a moderate contribution to the fluctuation in protein concentration. This suggests that such external noise in the cell growth rate has a global effect on cellular components, resulting in a large fluctuation in protein concentration in bacterial cells.