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Main Authors: Plugers, Davey, Kaneko, Kunihiko
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.18185
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author Plugers, Davey
Kaneko, Kunihiko
author_facet Plugers, Davey
Kaneko, Kunihiko
contents Gene expression in cells is stochastic, yet differentiation is robust. We propose a mechanism in which frustrated genes with weakly stable intermediate expression undergo noise-driven switching between basins of attraction, followed by irreversible fate fixation through slow epigenetic feedback. Regulatory interactions amplify effective noise and promote differentiation. We derive analytic expression for the logarithmic dependence of differentiation time on noise strength and input-dependent cell-fate selection, and demonstrate homeorhesis, the dynamical robustness of the epigenetic landscape.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_18185
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Noise-Driven Differentiation via Gene Frustration and Epigenetic Fixation
Plugers, Davey
Kaneko, Kunihiko
Biological Physics
Molecular Networks
Gene expression in cells is stochastic, yet differentiation is robust. We propose a mechanism in which frustrated genes with weakly stable intermediate expression undergo noise-driven switching between basins of attraction, followed by irreversible fate fixation through slow epigenetic feedback. Regulatory interactions amplify effective noise and promote differentiation. We derive analytic expression for the logarithmic dependence of differentiation time on noise strength and input-dependent cell-fate selection, and demonstrate homeorhesis, the dynamical robustness of the epigenetic landscape.
title Noise-Driven Differentiation via Gene Frustration and Epigenetic Fixation
topic Biological Physics
Molecular Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.18185