Trading bits in the readout from a genetic network
Trading bits in the readout from a genetic network
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.2109011118
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发表时间：
2021-11-16
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Bialek, William
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Bauer, Marianne;Petkova, Mariela D.;Bialek, William
在基因表达的调控中，与生物体相关的信息由转录因子分子的浓度表示。为了提取这些信息，细胞必须有效地“测量”这些浓度，但这些测量的精度存在物理限制。我们使用早期苍蝇胚胎中的差距基因网络作为浓度测量精度和相关信息传输之间权衡的例子。对于阈值测量，我们发现，较低的阈值是更重要的，微调是不需要接近最佳的信息传输。然后，我们考虑一般的传感器，仅受其信息容量的限制，并发现阈值传感器可以接近真正的信息理论最优。信息理论的方法使我们能够确定整个差距基因网络的最佳传感器，并认为传感的物理限制需要观察到的增强子元件的多样性，与组合的敏感性，而不是单一的转录因子。
In the regulation of gene expression, information of relevance to the organism is represented by the concentrations of transcription factor molecules. To extract this information the cell must effectively "measure" these concentrations, but there are physical limits to the precision of these measurements. We use the gap gene network in the early fly embryo as an example of the tradeoff between the precision of concentration measurements and the transmission of relevant information. For thresholded measurements we find that lower thresholds are more important, and fine tuning is not required for near-optimal information transmission. We then consider general sensors, constrained only by a limit on their information capacity, and find that thresholded sensors can approach true information theoretic optima. The information theoretic approach allows us to identify the optimal sensor for the entire gap gene network and to argue that the physical limitations of sensing necessitate the observed multiplicity of enhancer elements, with sensitivities to combinations rather than single transcription factors.