Engineering cellular symphonies out of transcriptional noise.

Development unfolds through a series of orchestrated spatial and temporal gene-expression patterns. Despite relying on the noisy process of transcription, expression patterns remain robust to myriad disturbances. To achieve the goal of building complex tissues from the bottom up, synthetic biology must learn how to buffer and harness transcriptional noise. Johnstone and Galloway contend that, to support complex patterning within engineered tissues, synthetic biology should be able to manage transcriptional noise.