Stochastic interpretation of lag times for the onset of template amplification in RNA replication

Abstract

The fluctuations in template concentration for an RNA replicating system catalysed by Qβ-replicase have been calculated at very low (1–10³ molecule cm^–3) template concentration. This calculation makes use of the stochastic centre manifold reduction of enslaved kinetic degrees of freedom. The relevance of fluctuations triggering the replication process is demonstrated. The empirical dependence on substrate concentration of the lag time for the onset of a macroscopically detectable amplification of the template concentration is in satisfactory agreement with the analytical form derived theoretically.