Optimal noise filtering in the chemotactic response of Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: Information-carrying signals in the real world are often obscured by noise. A challenge for any system is to filter the signal from the corrupting noise. This task is particularly acute for the signal transduction network that mediates bacterial chemotaxis, because the signals are subtle, the noise arising from stochastic fluctuations is substantial, and the system is effectively acting as a differentiator which amplifies noise. Here, we investigated the filtering properties of this biological system. Through simulation, we first show that the cutoff frequency has a dramatic effect on the chemotactic efficiency of the cell. Then, using a mathematical model to describe the signal, noise, and system, we formulated and solved an optimal filtering problem to determine the cutoff frequency that

SUBMITTER: Andrews BW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1636674 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature