Stochasticity in cellular metabolism and growth: Approaches and consequences

Advances in our ability to zoom in on single cells have revealed striking heterogeneity within isogenic populations. Attention has so far focussed predominantly on underlying stochastic variability in regulatory pathways and downstream differentiation events. In contrast, the role of stochasticity in metabolic processes and networks has long remained unaddressed. Here we review recent studies that have begun to overcome key technical challenges in addressing this issue. First findings have already demonstrated that metabolic networks are stochastic in nature, and highlight the plethora of cellular processes that are critically affected by it.