Gene expression noise is not just ubiquitous but also variable, and we still do not understand some of the most elementary factors that affect it. Among them is the residence time of a transcription factor (TF) on DNA, the mean time that a DNA-bound TF remains bound. Here, we use a stochastic model of transcriptional regulation to study how residence time affects the gene expression noise that arises when a TF induces gene expression. We find that the effect of residence time on gene expression noise depends on the TF's concentration and its affinity to DNA, which determine the level of induction of the gene. At high levels of induction, residence time has no effect on gene expression noise. However, as the level of induction decreases, short residence times reduce gene expression noise. The reason is that fast on-off TF binding dynamics prevent long periods where proteins are predominantly synthesized or degraded, which can cause excessive fluctuations in gene expression. As a consequence, short residence times can help a gene regulation system acquire information about the cellular environment it operates in. Our predictions are consistent with the observation that experimentally measured residence times are usually modest and lie between seconds to minutes.

中文翻译：

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DNA结合转录因子的短停留时间可以降低基因表达噪音并增加基因调控系统中的信息传递。

基因表达的噪声不仅无处不在，而且变化无常，我们仍然不了解影响它的一些最基本的因素。其中之一是转录因子（TF）在DNA上的停留时间，即与DNA结合的TF保持结合的平均时间。在这里，我们使用转录调控的随机模型来研究停留时间如何影响TF诱导基因表达时产生的基因表达噪音。我们发现停留时间对基因表达噪声的影响取决于TF的浓度及其对DNA的亲和力，而TF的浓度决定了基因的诱导水平。在高水平的诱导下，停留时间对基因表达噪音没有影响。但是，随着诱导水平的降低，较短的停留时间会降低基因表达的噪音。原因是快速的开-关TF结合动力学阻止了蛋白质主要合成或降解的长时间，这可能导致基因表达过度波动。因此，短的停留时间可以帮助基因调控系统获取有关其运行的细胞环境的信息。我们的预测与实验测量的停留时间通常适中且介于数秒至数分钟之间的观察结果一致。