Exact and WKB-approximate distributions in a gene expression model with feedback in burst frequency, burst size, and protein stability

The expression of individual genes into functional protein molecules is a noisy dynamical process. Here we model the protein concentration as a jump-drift process which combines discrete stochastic production bursts (jumps) with continuous deterministic decay (drift). We allow the drift rate, the jump rate, and the jump size to depend on the protein level to implement feedback in protein stability, burst frequency, and burst size. We specifically focus on positive feedback in burst size, while allowing for arbitrary autoregulation in burst frequency and protein stability. Two versions of feedback in burst size are thereby considered: in the first, newly produced molecules instantly participate in feedback, even within the same burst; in the second, within-burst regulation does not occur due to the so-called infinitesimal delay. Without infinitesimal delay, the model is explicitly solvable; with its inclusion, an exact distribution to the model is unavailable, but we are able to construct a WKB approximation that applies in the asymptotic regime of small but frequent bursts. Comparing the asymptotic behaviour of the two model versions, we report that they yield the same WKB quasi-potential but a different exponential prefactor. We illustrate the difference on the case of a bimodal protein distribution sustained by a sigmoid feedback in burst size: we show that the omission of the infinitesimal delay overestimates the weight of the upper mode of the protein distribution. The analytic results are supported by kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations.