2025/06/19 by Nakamura, Kento, Fukuoka, Hajime, Ishijima, Akihiko +1
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · #Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology #Cell Behavior (q-bio.CB) #FOS: Biological sciences #Molecular Communication and Nanonetworks #Quantitative Methods (q-bio.QM) #Slime Mold and Myxomycetes Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2506.15957
openalex publication_date 2025/06/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Mutual information is a theoretically grounded metric for quantifying cellular signaling pathways. However, its measurement demands characterization of both input and output distributions, limiting practical applications. Here, we present alternative method that alleviates this requirement using dual reporter systems. By extending extrinsic-intrinsic noise analysis, we derive a mutual information estimator that eliminates the need to measure input distribution. We demonstrate our method by analyzing the bacterial chemotactic pathway, regarding multiple flagellar motors as natural dual reporters. We show the biological relevance of the measured information flow by comparing it with theoretical bounds on sensory information. This framework opens new possibilities for quantifying information flow in cellular signaling pathways.