2008/03/04 by Tsvi Tlusty · 3 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Computer Science · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques #DNA and Biological Computing #Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture #cs.IT #math.IT #physics.bio-ph #q-bio.QM
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1478-3975/5/1/016001
published as Tsvi Tlusty 2008 Phys. Biol. 5 016001 · Keywords: molecular codes, rate-distortion theory, biological information channels, stochastic maps, genetic code, genetic networks
openalex publication_date 2008/03/04 · arxiv created 2010/07/23 · arxiv updated 2010/07/26 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Molecular codes translate information written in one type of molecule into another molecular language. We introduce a simple model that treats molecular codes as noisy information channels. An optimal code is a channel that conveys information accurately and efficiently while keeping down the impact of errors. The equipoise of the three conflicting needs, for minimal error load, minimal cost of resources and maximal diversity of vocabulary, defines the fitness of the code. The model suggests a mechanism for the emergence of a code when evolution varies the parameters that control this equipoise and the mapping between the two molecular languages becomes non-random. This mechanism is demonstrated by a simple toy model that is formally equivalent to a mean-field Ising magnet.