Thermodynamics of statistical inference by cells

Abstract

The deep connection between thermodynamics, computation, and information is now well established both theoretically and experimentally. Here, we extend these ideas to show that thermodynamics also places fundamental constraints on statistical estimation and learning. To do so, we investigate the constraints placed by (nonequilibrium) thermodynamics on the ability of biochemical signaling networks within cells to estimate the concentration of an external signal. We show that accuracy is limited by energy consumption, suggesting that there are fundamental thermodynamic constraints on statistical inference.

arXiv comment15 pages, 5 figures. V2 includes edits and 2 new figures. V3 is updated to version published in Phys. Rev. Lett

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• Thermodynamic uncertainty relation for biomolecular processes
• Broken detailed balance and non-equilibrium dynamics in living systems
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• Cost and Precision of Brownian Clocks
• Maxwell's demon in biochemical signal transduction with feedback loop
• Estimating entropy production from waiting time distributions
• Sensory capacity: an information theoretical measure of the performance of a sensor
• Physical limit to concentration sensing amid spurious ligands
• The thermodynamics of computational copying in biochemical systems
• Nonequilibrium sensing and its analogy to kinetic proofreading
• Coherence of Biochemical Oscillations is Bounded by Driving Force and Network Topology
• Stochastic Thermodynamics of Learning
• Landauer in the age of synthetic biology: energy consumption and information processing in biochemical networks
• The Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relation in Biochemical Oscillations
• Thermodynamic limits to information harvesting by sensory systems
• Fundamental limits to collective concentration sensing in cell populations
• An energy-speed-accuracy relation in complex networks for biological discrimination
• Spectral theory of fluctuations in time-average statistical mechanics of reversible and driven systems
• Universal minimal cost of coherent biochemical oscillations
• Receptor crosstalk improves concentration sensing of multiple ligands
• Limits of Predictions in Thermodynamic Systems: A Review
• Know the single-receptor sensing limit? Think again
• Identifying feasible operating regimes for early T-cell recognition: The speed, energy, accuracy trade-off in kinetic proofreading and adaptive sorting
• Thermodynamic uncertainty relation of interacting oscillators in synchrony
• Accurate encoding and decoding by single cells: amplitude versus frequency modulation
• Linear Irreversible Thermodynamics and Onsager Reciprocity for Information-driven Engines
• Informations in models of evolutionary dynamics
• A universal tradeoff between power, precision and speed in physical communication
• Universal energy-accuracy tradeoffs in nonequilibrium cellular sensing
• Energy dissipation in an adaptive molecular circuit
• Optimal time estimation and the clock uncertainty relation for stochastic processes
• The accuracy of telling time via oscillatory signals
• Dispersion for Two Classes of Random Variables: General Theory and Application to Inference of an External Ligand Concentration by a Cell
• Precision of flow sensing by self-communicating cells
• Chemotaxis in uncertain environments: hedging bets with multiple receptor types
• Optimal inference strategies and their implications for the linear noise approximation
• Physical limits to membrane curvature sensing by a single protein
• Biological implications of dynamical phases in non-equilibrium networks
• Pleiotropy enables specific and accurate signaling in the presence of ligand cross talk
• The Fitness Value of Information with Delayed Phenotype Switching: Optimal Performance with Imperfect Sensing
• A thermodynamic paradigm for solution demixing inspired by nuclear transport in living cells
• Information thermodynamics: from physics to neuroscience
• Tradeoffs in concentration sensing in dynamic environments
• Fate of Duplicated Neural Structures
• Thermodynamic efficiency of learning a rule in neural networks
• Maxwell's demons with finite size and response time
• Dispersion of the time spent in a state: General expression for unicyclic model and dissipation-less precision
• Minimal informational requirements for fitness
• Improved estimation for energy dissipation in biochemical oscillations
• Theory for Optimal Estimation and Control under Resource Limitations and Its Applications to Biological Information Processing and Decision-Making
• Optimal temporal patterns for dynamical cellular signaling
• Nonequilibrium fluctuation-response relations for state observables
• Limitations on concentration measurements and gradient discerning times in cellular systems
• Resource Limitations induce Phase Transitions in Biological Information Processing
• Role of activity and dissipation in achieving precise beating in cilia: Insights from the rower model
• Counting observables in stochastic excursions
• Framework for fluctuating times and counting observables in stochastic excursions
• Detecting concentration changes with cooperative receptors
• Bounds on the rates of statistical divergences and mutual information via stochastic thermodynamics
• Individual Sensing can Gain more Fitness than its Information
• Thermodynamic constraints on the assembly and diversity of microbial ecosystems are different near to and far from equilibrium
• Theoretical Analysis of Resource-Induced Phase Transitions in Estimation Strategies
• Optimizing Energetic cost of Uncertainty in a Driven System With and Without Feedback