The role of spatial averaging in the precision of gene expression patterns

TL;DR

This paper investigates how spatial averaging through diffusion influences gene expression precision during embryonic development, revealing an optimal diffusion level that balances boundary sharpness and noise reduction.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical and simulation-based framework demonstrating how diffusion can enhance gene expression precision by reducing stochastic noise.

Findings

Diffusion reduces super-Poissonian noise in gene expression.

An optimal diffusion constant maximizes expression domain precision.

Diffusion balances boundary sharpness and noise reduction.

Abstract

During embryonic development, differentiating cells respond via gene expression to positional cues from morphogen gradients. While gene expression is often highly erratic, embryonic development is precise. We show by theory and simulations that diffusion of the expressed protein can enhance the precision of its expression domain. While diffusion lessens the sharpness of the expression boundary, it also reduces super-Poissonian noise by washing out bursts of gene expression. Balancing these effects yields an optimal diffusion constant maximizing the precision of the expression domain.