[EN] Stochastic fluctuations in gene expression
trigger both beneficial and harmful consequences for cell
behavior. Therefore, achieving a desired mean protein
expression level while minimizing noise is of interest in
many applications, including robust protein production
systems in industrial biotechnology. Here, we consider a
synthetic gene circuit combining intracellular negative feed-
back and cell-to-cell communication based on quorum sensing.
Accounting for both intrinsic and extrinsic noise, stochastic
simulations allow us to analyze the capability of the circuit to
reduce noise strength as a function of its parameters. We
obtain mean expression levels and noise strengths for all
species under different scenarios, showing good agreement with system-wide available experimental data of protein abundance and noise in Escherichia coli. Our in silico experiments, validated by preliminary in vivo results, reveal significant noise attenuation in gene expression through the interplay between quorum sensing and negative feedback and highlight the differential role that they play in regard to intrinsic and extrinsic noise.his work was partially supported by the Spanish Government(CICYT DPI2014-55276-C5-1) and the European Union(FEDER). Y.B. thanks grant FPI/2013-3242 of UPV.Boada-Acosta, YF.; Vignoni, A.; Picó, J. (2017). Engineered Control of Genetic Variability Reveals Interplay among Quorum Sensing, Feedback Regulation, and Biochemical Noise. ACS Synthetic Biology. 6(10):1903-1912. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.7b00087S1903191261
