Distributions of threshold crossing times of messenger RNA
Within the studies of stochastic gene expression, apart from the variability of copy number of gene products, the problems of threshold crossing of those products are biologically important as they often lead to terminal cellular events. Here, we study the threshold crossing problem of the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) and present an exact probability distribution of first passage times in…
In the realm of stochastic gene expression, researchers have delved into the significance of threshold crossing times for messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA). These threshold crossing times can trigger crucial terminal cellular events, making their study biologically important. In this work, the focus is on understanding the threshold crossing problem specifically for mRNA, presenting an exact probability distribution of first passage times in Laplace space.
The developed function enables the calculation of moments of any order, shedding light on the characteristics of the distribution. Moreover, it provides a means to predict the characteristic time of the exponential tail of the distribution. This prediction is subsequently validated against Gillespie simulations, which serve as a benchmark for comparison.
The study reveals that the measures of relative fluctuations in threshold crossing times exhibit a U-shape pattern within the context of this simple mRNA model. This finding aligns with earlier observations made in more complex models dealing with threshold crossing time statistics of proteins. The research further extends the exact formula to incorporate the phenomenon of DNA duplication, which results in a doubling of transcription rate.
As anticipated, the distribution of threshold crossing times varies considerably depending on the timing of the duplication stage within the cell cycle.
Written by urgent.news from bioRxiv's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
