In the study of stochasticity and gene expression the obvious question seems to be: Why are certain processes so noisy? From an evolutionary standpoint it seems counterinutive that natural selection would allow complex systmes to exhibit protein expression behavior that is variable and unpredictable. Stochasticity has also been theorized to account for disease and development. While significant results are still pending, haploinsufficiency diseases are theorized to arise from stochasticity in gene expression. This is becuase the single functional allele cannot produce the amount of protein needed to keep the body's respective concentration continually above a low threshold state due to the pulsitile nature of mRNA production. Stochasticity may also play a role in stem cell differentiation. Stochasticity initially establishes heterogenity within an initially homologous population that allows for the selection of cell-type-specific gene expression and eventually differentiation().
