A Survey of Molecular Communication in Cell Biology: Establishing a New Hierarchy for Interdisciplinary Applications
A Survey of Molecular Communication in Cell Biology: Establishing a New Hierarchy for Interdisciplinary Applications
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DOI：
10.1109/comst.2021.3066117
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发表时间：
2021-01-01
影响因子：
35.6
通讯作者：
Schober, Robert
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bi, Dadi;Almpanis, Apostolos;Schober, Robert
分子通信（MC）工程的灵感来自于在细胞生物学中使用化学信号作为信息载体。化学信号的生物学性质使MC成为一种有前途的跨学科应用方法，需要在细胞和其他微尺度设备之间进行通信。然而，由于生命科学和通信工程领域有不同的方法来制定和解决研究问题，它们之间的不匹配会阻碍研究成果的转化，阻碍跨学科解决方案的发展和实施。为了弥补这一差距，本研究提出了细胞生物学中MC信号的一种新的通信层次结构，并绘制了该层次结构的现象、贡献和问题。其层次包括：1)细胞信号在物理信号传播水平的物理传播；2)物理和化学信号相互作用水平上分子信号的产生、接收和生化途径；3)物理信号的量化，包括宏观尺度的观测和控制方法，以及信号-数据接口级的信息转换；4)对细胞信号中的信息进行解释，并在局部数据抽象层面实现对分子信号的存储、处理和通信的合成系统；5)在应用层依赖与MC信号通信的应用。为了进一步证明所提出的层次结构，它被应用于群体感应、神经元信号和通过DNA进行通信的案例研究。最后，针对每个层次和多个层次的集成，确定了若干有待解决的问题。所提出的层次结构为通信工程师提供了研究和与生物系统交互的语言，也有助于生物学家理解如何利用通信工程概念来解释、控制和操纵细胞生物学中的信号。
Molecular communication (MC) engineering is inspired by the use of chemical signals as information carriers in cell biology. The biological nature of chemical signaling makes MC a promising methodology for interdisciplinary applications requiring communication between cells and other microscale devices. However, since the life sciences and communications engineering fields have distinct approaches to formulating and solving research problems, the mismatch between them can hinder the translation of research results and impede the development and implementation of interdisciplinary solutions. To bridge this gap, this survey proposes a novel communication hierarchy for MC signaling in cell biology and maps phenomena, contributions, and problems to the hierarchy. The hierarchy includes: 1) the physical propagation of cell signaling at the Physical Signal Propagation level; 2) the generation, reception, and biochemical pathways of molecular signals at the Physical and Chemical Signal Interaction level; 3) the quantification of physical signals, including macroscale observation and control methods, and conversion of signals to information at the Signal-Data Interface level; 4) the interpretation of information in cell signals and the realization of synthetic systems to store, process, and communicate molecular signals at the Local Data Abstraction level; and 5) applications relying on communication with MC signals at the Application level. To further demonstrate the proposed hierarchy, it is applied to case studies on quorum sensing, neuronal signaling, and communication via DNA. Finally, several open problems are identified for each level and the integration of multiple levels. The proposed hierarchy provides language for communication engineers to study and interface with biological systems, and also helps biologists to understand how communications engineering concepts can be exploited to interpret, control, and manipulate signaling in cell biology.