Lentiviral vectors to study stochastic noise in gene expression

Lentiviral vectors are vehicles for gene delivery that were originally derived from the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) lentivirus. These vectors are defective for replication, and thus considered relatively safe, but are capable of stably integrating into the genomic DNA of a broad range of dividing and nondividing mammalian cell types. The ability to stably integrate at semi-random genomic positions make lentiviral vectors a unique and ideal tool for studying stochastic variation in gene expression. Here, we describe the experimental and mathematical methods for using lentiviral vectors to study stochastic noise in gene expression.