Constructive role of noise in p53 regulatory network Original Research Article

We study the effect of noise on p53 regulatory network, the core of a cellʹs modulator for switching between survival and apoptosis. We find that the fluctuations, originating from stochastic expression of p53-responsive genes, introduce marked advantages for the system to sense external stimuli and sustain the function of switches. The coherence between a stimulus and the systemʹs response undergoes a maximum with the raise of noise level, indicating the occurrence of stochastic resonance. The biological significance of our results is discussed.