Towards understanding the influence of stochastic fluctuations on pattern formation in the Notch signaling pathway

Notch signaling is an evolutionary conserved pathway involved in many cellular processes including spatiotemporal pattern formation in tissues. It is also well known that noise is important in biological process, but how stochastic fluctuations influence pattern formation in the Notch pathway is still relatively unexplored. We focus on two common types of noise – white and shot – in multicellular systems to show optimal noise promotes a more ordered pattern. The results suggest that an intermediate range of noise perturbs the system, causing cells to "flip" to the correct state. Further, the fluctuations seem to allow the system to explore many configurations before settling into the most ordered pattern that is accessible.