The chaos within: exploring noise in cellular biology

TL;DR

This paper discusses the role of randomness and noise in cellular biology, highlighting how stochastic processes influence cellular functions and how researchers analyze these effects using large datasets.

Contribution

It provides an overview of the causes and impacts of biological noise and reviews recent progress in modeling and understanding cellular randomness with data-driven approaches.

Findings

Random diffusion affects molecular interactions within cells.

Cellular processes are significantly influenced by stochastic events.

Data analysis advances have improved understanding of cellular noise.

Abstract

Cellular biology exists embedded in a world dominated by random dynamics and chance. Many vital molecules and pieces of cellular machinery diffuse within cells, moving along random trajectories as they collide with the other biomolecular inhabitants of the cell. Cellular components may block each other's progress, be produced or degraded at random times, and become unevenly separated as cells grow and divide. Cellular behaviour, including important features of stem cells, tumours and infectious bacteria, is profoundly influenced by the chaos which is the environment within the cell walls. Here we will look at some important causes and effects of randomness in cellular biology, and some ways in which researchers, helped by the vast amounts of data that are now flowing in, have made progress in describing the randomness of nature.