The cell as a minicomputer
How can cells pass on the multitude of environmental signals in a reliable manner? Researchers from the FOM Institute AMOLF have shown that cells - just as computers - can multiplex: they can send several signals at once through a single information pathway, without the signals disrupting each other. The results will be published tomorrow in the renowned journal Physical Review Letters.
Signal transduction
Cells must continuously respond to changes in their environment, such as those in temperature or food supply. They do this by constantly passing on a range of signals from their environment, for example from the membrane to the nucleus, so that genes can be switched on or off. The lines of communication in the cell, the so-called signal transduction networks, consist of proteins that physically and chemically interact with each other. The production of these proteins costs a lot of energy. So cells do not have a separate line of communication for each signal. Instead several signals are often sent via a joint signal transduction network.
Simulations
To date, it was not clear whether cells could also send several signals at once through such a network without any disruptions occurring. Using theoretical explanations and computer simulations, Prof.dr. Pieter Rein ten Wolde and his group have now revealed that this is indeed possible. They have shown that proteins which form the entry signals can be coded in a component of the network. This multiplexed signal is then decoded into output signals via a number of steps, which are equivalent to the input signals. Biochemical signals can therefore be multiplexed just like electrical signals.
Reference
Multiplexing Biochemical Signals, Wiet de Ronde, Filipe Tostevin, and Pieter Rein ten Wolde, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 048101 (2011)
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.048101
More information
For more information about the research of Pieter Rein ten Wolde please use the following weblink:
http://fastfacts.nl/content/pieter-rein-ten-wolde-biochemische-netwerken