Cumulative signal transmission in nonlinear reaction-diffusion networks

PLoS One. 2013 May 8;8(5):e62834. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062834. Print 2013.

Abstract

Quantifying signal transmission in biochemical systems is key to uncover the mechanisms that cells use to control their responses to environmental stimuli. In this work we use the time-integral of chemical species as a measure of a network's ability to cumulatively transmit signals encoded in spatiotemporal concentrations. We identify a class of nonlinear reaction-diffusion networks in which the time-integrals of some species can be computed analytically. The derived time-integrals do not require knowledge of the solution of the reaction-diffusion equation, and we provide a simple graphical test to check if a given network belongs to the proposed class. The formulae for the time-integrals reveal how the kinetic parameters shape signal transmission in a network under spatiotemporal stimuli. We use these to show that a canonical complex-formation mechanism behaves as a spatial low-pass filter, the bandwidth of which is inversely proportional to the diffusion length of the ligand.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Environment*
  • Kinetics
  • Ligands
  • Models, Biological*
  • Signal Transduction / physiology*
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Ligands

Grants and funding

DAO is funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through the Centre for Synthetic Biology and Innovation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.