TY - JOUR
T1 - Of Cardiovascular Illness and Diversity of Biological Response
AU - Goldschmidt-Clermont, Pascal
AU - Dong, Chunming
AU - West, Mike
AU - Seo, David M.
N1 - Funding Information:
The study was funded by The National Institute of Health (Bethesda, MD) grants HL73043, HL71536, and AG023073 for Dr Pascal J. Goldschmidt-Clermont. The authors are grateful to Irene Hung for her invaluable editorial support.
PY - 2008/7
Y1 - 2008/7
N2 - Noise in gene expression (stochastic variation in the composition of the transcriptome in response to stimuli) may play an important role in maintaining robustness and flexibility, which ensure the stability of normal physiology and provide adaptability to environmental changes for the living system. Broad-based technologies have allowed us to study with unprecedented accuracy the molecular profiles of various states of health and cardiovascular disease. In doing so, we have observed a correlation between the degree of variation in gene expression and the state of health. Specifically, the stochastic variation in gene expression in response to environmental and physiological factors is found in healthy mice, and tends to disappear in mice with advanced disease states. Although further evidence is needed to draw a solid conclusion with respect to the significance of decreased transcriptional noise in the disease state as a whole, it is tantalizing to introduce the concept that stochasticity may be linked to the organism's adaptability to a changing environment, and the "quiet" states of gene expression may indicate the loss of diversity in the organism's response.
AB - Noise in gene expression (stochastic variation in the composition of the transcriptome in response to stimuli) may play an important role in maintaining robustness and flexibility, which ensure the stability of normal physiology and provide adaptability to environmental changes for the living system. Broad-based technologies have allowed us to study with unprecedented accuracy the molecular profiles of various states of health and cardiovascular disease. In doing so, we have observed a correlation between the degree of variation in gene expression and the state of health. Specifically, the stochastic variation in gene expression in response to environmental and physiological factors is found in healthy mice, and tends to disappear in mice with advanced disease states. Although further evidence is needed to draw a solid conclusion with respect to the significance of decreased transcriptional noise in the disease state as a whole, it is tantalizing to introduce the concept that stochasticity may be linked to the organism's adaptability to a changing environment, and the "quiet" states of gene expression may indicate the loss of diversity in the organism's response.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.tcm.2008.07.003
DO - 10.1016/j.tcm.2008.07.003
M3 - Review article
C2 - 18790390
AN - SCOPUS:51249083921
VL - 18
SP - 194
EP - 197
JO - Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine
JF - Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine
SN - 1050-1738
IS - 5
ER -