Fig. 3
miRNA increase shifts the maximal crosstalk region. a mCherry mean fluorescence (a proxy for p 1 in the model, Fig. 1 b) is plotted against eYFP (a proxy for the constitutive expression p 0 in the model). Blue triangles and red circles are data from cotransfection with pre-miR20a and negative controls, respectively. Error bars are evaluated on the biological replicates. The gray curve is the model prediction with the parameters fitted from the data and miRNA/target effective interaction strength g 1→∞. The black arrow points to the model-predicted threshold. According to the model, increasing the pool of available miRNAs (transfecting pre-miRNAs) shifts the threshold to higher constitutive expression values. b Different combinations of miR-20a MREs lead to different levels of fold-repression and crosstalk. Triangles and circles in the plot are data from transfections with pre-miR20a and negative controls, respectively. Purple and cyan circles in legends represent the plasmids coding for mCherry and mCerulean fluorophores, respectively. a.u. arbitrary units, eYFP enhanced yellow fluorescent protein, MRE miRNA regulatory element