Biomaterial Database

Dynamics of cooperativity in chemical sensing among cell-surface receptors. 2011

Monica Skoge, and Yigal Meir, and Ned S Wingreen

Department of Biology, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California 92037, USA.

Cooperative interactions among sensory receptors provide a general mechanism to increase the sensitivity of signal transduction. In particular, bacterial chemotaxis receptors interact cooperatively to produce an ultrasensitive response to chemoeffector concentrations. However, cooperativity between receptors in large macromolecular complexes is necessarily based on local interactions and consequently is fundamentally connected to slowing of receptor-conformational dynamics, which increases intrinsic noise. Therefore, it is not clear whether or under what conditions cooperativity actually increases the precision of the concentration measurement. We explicitly calculate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for sensing a concentration change using a simple, Ising-type model of receptor-receptor interactions, generalized via scaling arguments, and find that the optimal SNR is always achieved by independent receptors.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008954	Models, Biological	Theoretical representations that simulate the behavior or activity of biological processes or diseases. For disease models in living animals, DISEASE MODELS, ANIMAL is available. Biological models include the use of mathematical equations, computers, and other electronic equipment.	Biological Model,Biological Models,Model, Biological,Models, Biologic,Biologic Model,Biologic Models,Model, Biologic
D011485	Protein Binding	The process in which substances, either endogenous or exogenous, bind to proteins, peptides, enzymes, protein precursors, or allied compounds. Specific protein-binding measures are often used as assays in diagnostic assessments.	Plasma Protein Binding Capacity,Binding, Protein
D011956	Receptors, Cell Surface	Cell surface proteins that bind signalling molecules external to the cell with high affinity and convert this extracellular event into one or more intracellular signals that alter the behavior of the target cell (From Alberts, Molecular Biology of the Cell, 2nd ed, pp693-5). Cell surface receptors, unlike enzymes, do not chemically alter their ligands.	Cell Surface Receptor,Cell Surface Receptors,Hormone Receptors, Cell Surface,Receptors, Endogenous Substances,Cell Surface Hormone Receptors,Endogenous Substances Receptors,Receptor, Cell Surface,Surface Receptor, Cell