Theory 77/Timing & Gating/Gene expression
Bursts Gate Expression
The claim
Whether a gene is expressed at a given moment is set by the ratio of burst frequency to burst duration, not by mean expression level.
01Mechanism
Transcription occurs in bursts; the fraction of time the promoter is active determines the distribution of protein, and the ratio sets whether expression is graded or all-or-none.
02Prediction
Expression pattern should track the ratio.
03Refutation
Pattern tracking mean level would remove the burst structure.