Abstract
Populations of mammalian stem cells commonly exhibit considerable cell-cell variability. However, the functional role of this diversity is unclear. Here, we analyze expression fluctuations of the stem cell surface marker Sca1 in mouse hematopoietic progenitor cells using a simple stochastic model and find that the observed dynamics naturally lie close to a critical state, thereby producing a diverse population that is able to respond rapidly to environmental changes. We propose an information-theoretic interpretation of these results that views cellular multipotency as an instance of maximum entropy statistical inference.
Highlights
Populations of mammalian stem cells commonly exhibit considerable cell-cell variability
We propose an information-theoretic interpretation of these results that views cellular multipotency as an instance of maximum entropy statistical inference
Stochastic fluctuations in the expression of important marker proteins have been seen to generate functional diversity within multipotent mammalian stem cell populations, suggesting a similar role for cell-cell variability in higher organisms [2]. These observations have motivated speculation that functional multipotency is a collective property of stem and progenitor cell populations, reflective of fitness constraints imposed at the population—rather than the individual cell—level [3]
Summary
Populations of mammalian stem cells commonly exhibit considerable cell-cell variability. We analyze expression fluctuations of the stem cell surface marker Sca1 in mouse hematopoietic progenitor cells using a simple stochastic model and find that the observed dynamics naturally lie close to a critical state, thereby producing a diverse population that is able to respond rapidly to environmental changes.
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