Optimal resource allocation in cellular sensing systems.

ABSTRACT: Living cells deploy many resources to sense their environments, including receptors, downstream signaling molecules, time, and fuel. However, it is not known which resources fundamentally limit the precision of sensing, like weak links in a chain, and which can compensate each other, leading to trade-offs between them. We present a theory for the optimal design of the large class of sensing systems in which a receptor drives a push-pull network. The theory identifies three classes of resources that are required for sensing: receptors and their integration time, readout molecules, and energy (fuel turnover). Each resource class sets a fundamental sensing limit, which means that the sensing precision is bounded by the limiting resource class and cannot be enhanced by increasing another class

SUBMITTER: Govern CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4267345 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature