Viewing the noise propagation mechanism in a unidirectional transition cascade from the perspective of stability*

Abstract

Noise and noise propagation are inevitable and play a constructive role in various biological processes. The stability of cell homeostasis is also a critical issue. In the unidirectional transition cascade of colon cells, stem cells (SCs) are the source. They differentiate into transit-amplifying cells (TACs), and TACs differentiate into fully differentiated cells (FDCs). Two differentiation processes are irreversible. The stability factor is introduced so that the noise propagation mechanism from the perspective of stability is studied according to the noise propagation formulas. It is found that the value of the stability factor corresponding to the minimum noise in FDCs may be the best choice to enable colon cells to maintain high stability and low noise of the cascade. Moreover, for the source cell, the total noise only includes intrinsic noise; for the downstream cell with self-proliferation capability, the total noise mainly depends on its intrinsic noise and transmitted noise from upstream cells, and its intrinsic noise is dominant. For the downstream cell without self-proliferation capability, the total noise is mainly determined by transmitted noises from upstream cells, and there is a minimum value. This work provides a new approach for studying the mechanism of noise propagation while considering the stability of cell homeostasis in biological systems.