Table 1.
Stochastic cell fate phenomena that yield random or robust final outcomes
| Organism | Phenomenon | Stochastic mechanism | Robustness mechanism |
Final outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Escherichia coli | Bacterial persistence | Unknown mechanism | NA | Stochastic subset of bacteria can tolerate harsh conditions |
| Bacillus subtilis | Competence to take up DNA | Noise in gene regulation | NA | Transient stochastic windows of competence |
| Primates | Color vision | 1. Unknown locus selection 2. LCR promoter selection |
NA | Stochastic expression of photopigments |
| Mus musculus | Olfaction | 1. Unknown locus selection 2. LCR promoter selection |
NA | Stochastic expression of olfactory receptors |
| Drosophila melanogaster | Color vision | Unknown mechanism regulating the spineless TF | NA | Stochastic expression of photopigments |
| Vertebrates | Motor neuron specification | Unknown regulation of Hox genes | Cell positioning | Reproducible motor pools in positioning and constituency |
| Caenorhabditis elegans | Uterus development | Lateral inhibition via Notch/LIN-12 | Cell positioning and division | Reproducible uterus structure |
| Drosophila melanogaster | R3/R4 photoreceptor specification | Lateral inhibition via Notch/LIN-12 | Frizzled activity gradient directs Notch activity | R3/R4 patterning across the retina is uniform |
| Drosophila melanogaster | R7 photoreceptor specification | Lateral inhibition via Notch/LIN-12 | Cff-inhibition of Notch activity in R1/R6 cells | One R7 is specified per ommatidium |
| Caenorhabditis elegans | AWC olfactory neuron lateral asymmetry | Lateral inhibition via differential signaling through gap junctions | NA | Stochastic expression of olfactory receptors |
NA, not applicable; LCR, locus control region; TF, transcription factor.