丁香园AV

Synopsis

No two individual cells 鈥渓ook鈥� the same, even if they share the same genes and grow under identical conditions. This unexpected phenomenon, frequently termed as 鈥榗ellular noise鈥�, emerges in part due to the stochastic nature of molecular-level interactions within individual cells that occur during protein production. As such, a form of non-clonal heterogeneity in the copy number and types of proteins between cells arises.

In this presentation, we will discuss the statistical physics-archive nature of cellular noise and our recent findings of how cellular noise propagates from gene expression to metabolism with a focus on lipid production and growth. To this end, we will first present the interferometric and fluorescent bioimaging methods [1] that we employ to dynamically track cellular metabolism of more than 103 single-cells on a microfluidic chip.

We will then proceed with our recent findings of how cellular noise affects lipid production and accumulation [2] and how we can use cellular noise to better understand metabolic dynamics [3]. We will conclude with our more recent results on the independent impacts of cellular noise on growth and lipid accumulation, as well as the underlying metabolic trade-offs and competition between these two metabolic objectives [4].

[1] Metabolic Engineering 27, 115 (2015).
[2] Scientific Reports 5, 17689 (2015).
[3] PLOS ONE 12, e0168889 (2017).
[4] Nature Communications 10, 848 (2019).