Fig 2. Inferring changes in noise levels in the molecular content of focal adhesions.

(a) An assembly process with competing binding interactions. (b) Higher diversity in the local levels of a recruiting protein leads to a stronger correlation between the recruited proteins, while higher noise causes the opposite. (c) Simulated CV and r² of the densities of the dark-blue and red components as a function of binding noise and diversity in the density of the yellow component among focal adhesions. (d) Inferring changes in noise levels based on ΔCV and Δr². Changes between focal adhesion categories exemplified in (c) are indicated. The inference approach was validated by systematic screen of diversity and noise levels for competitive and non-competitive assembly processes.