On the noise of gene expression in membrane-bound picolitre biochemical reactors

A clonal population, sharing exactly the same genetic information, eventually displays variability in its observed metabolic properties, such as protein concentrations [1].
In this presentation will be shown a new microfluidic setup that allows the screening of gene expression in a large number (N>1000) of identical picolitre microwells sealed by a biological membrane.

Gene expression of GFP using a cell-free transcription-translation system is performed in picolitre microreactors sealed by a membrane made of a mixture of phospholipids. Each experiment stands for a model clonal population. Although the kinetics of gene expression follows the same master curve for all the microwells, the end-points of the gene expression revealed a variability in the amount of protein produced, with a long right-tail distribution. This observation holds regardless of the composition of the outer phase, emphasizing this intrinsic property of the artificial cells.

[1] H. Salman, N. Brenner, C.-K. Tung, N. Elyahu, E. Stolovicki, L. Moore, A. Libchaber and E. Braun, Universal Protein Fluctuations in Populations of Microorganisms, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 238105 (2012)