Impact of variability in cell generation times on cell-to-cell variability of protein concentrations

need separate study, since cell size growth between cell divisions dilute protein concentrations at the same rate as size growth, which also determines mean division times. Here for a model of bursty protein production, we present exact moments (of all orders) of protein concentrations in the cyclo-stationary state, comparing: (i) population and lineage cell ensembles, and (ii) statistics at different cell ages. Two interesting results emerge. While the variance of protein concentration changes with the degree of division time heterogeneity at any cell age, the age-averaged variance is independent of it within lineage ensemble but stays dependent within population ensemble. The skewness within population ensemble is higher in younger cells than within lineage ensemble, and this behavior reverses at older ages. Such a feature vanishes for the age-averaged distribution, with population based skewness always dominating over that of lineage. We also show that mother-daughter correlations in generation times, do not add any significant difference to the results.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Published
2026-04-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.23.720286
Primary Topic
Gene Regulatory Network Analysis
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Impact of variability in cell generation times on cell-to-cell variability of protein concentrations

Abhyudai Singh, Ashok Prasad, Syed Yunus Ali, Dibyendu Das
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Gene Regulatory Network Analysis
article

Impact of variability in cell generation times on cell-to-cell variability of protein concentrations

Abhyudai Singh, Ashok Prasad, Syed Yunus Ali, Dibyendu Das
article en

Abstract

need separate study, since cell size growth between cell divisions dilute protein concentrations at the same rate as size growth, which also determines mean division times. Here for a model of bursty protein production, we present exact moments (of all orders) of protein concentrations in the cyclo-stationary state, comparing: (i) population and lineage cell ensembles, and (ii) statistics at different cell ages. Two interesting results emerge. While the variance of protein concentration changes with the degree of division time heterogeneity at any cell age, the age-averaged variance is independent of it within lineage ensemble but stays dependent within population ensemble. The skewness within population ensemble is higher in younger cells than within lineage ensemble, and this behavior reverses at older ages. Such a feature vanishes for the age-averaged distribution, with population based skewness always dominating over that of lineage. We also show that mother-daughter correlations in generation times, do not add any significant difference to the results.

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IN), University of Delaware (US), Colorado State University (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 16%
Gene Regulatory Network Analysis
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.