2019/11/01 by Gabriele Micali, Robert G. Endres, Micali, Gabriele +1
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · #Cell Behavior (q-bio.CB) #FOS: Biological sciences #Gene Regulatory Network Analysis #Microfluidic and Bio-sensing Technologies #Molecular Communication and Nanonetworks
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1911.00301
openalex publication_date 2019/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Cells are often considered input-output devices that maximize the\ntransmission of information by converting extracellular stimuli (input) via\nsignaling pathways (communication channel) to cell behavior (output). However,\nin biological systems outputs might feed back into inputs due to cell motility,\nand the biological channel can change by mutations during evolution. Here, we\nshow that the conventional channel capacity obtained by optimizing the input\ndistribution for a fixed channel may not reflect the global optimum. In a new\napproach we analytically identify both input distributions and input-output\ncurves that optimally transmit information, given constraints from noise and\nthe dynamic range of the channel. We find a universal optimal input\ndistribution only depending on the input noise, and we generalize our formalism\nto multiple outputs (or inputs). Applying our formalism to Escherichia coli\nchemotaxis, we find that its pathway is compatible with optimal information\ntransmission despite the ultrasensitive rotary motors.\n