Optimal ligand discrimination by asymmetric dimerization and turnover of interferon receptors.

ABSTRACT: In multicellular organisms, antiviral defense mechanisms evoke a reliable collective immune response despite the noisy nature of biochemical communication between tissue cells. A molecular hub of this response, the interferon I receptor (IFNAR), discriminates between ligand types by their affinity regardless of concentration. To understand how ligand type can be decoded robustly by a single receptor, we frame ligand discrimination as an information-theoretic problem and systematically compare the major classes of receptor architectures: allosteric, homodimerizing, and heterodimerizing. We demonstrate that asymmetric heterodimers achieve the best discrimination power over the entire physiological range of local ligand concentrations. This design enables sensing of ligand presence and type,

SUBMITTER: Binder P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8449373 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature