Active transport improves the precision of linear long distance molecular signalling

Abstract

Molecular signalling in living cells occurs at low copy numbers and is thereby inherently limited by the noise imposed by thermal diffusion. The precision at which biochemical receptors can count signalling molecules is intimately related to the noise correlation time. In addition to passive thermal diffusion, messenger RNA and vesicle-engulfed signalling molecules can transiently bind to molecular motors and are actively transported across biological cells. Active transport is most beneficial when trafficking occurs over large distances, for instance up to the order of 1 metre in neurons. Here we explain how intermittent active transport allows for faster equilibration upon a change in concentration triggered by biochemical stimuli. Moreover, we show how intermittent active excursions induce qualitative changes in the noise in effectively one-dimensional systems such as dendrites. Thereby they allow for significantly improved signalling precision in the sense of a smaller relative deviation in the concentration read-out by the receptor. On the basis of linear response theory we derive the exact mean field precision limit for counting actively transported molecules. We explain how intermittent active excursions disrupt the recurrence in the molecular motion, thereby facilitating improved signalling accuracy. Our results provide a deeper understanding of how recurrence affects molecular signalling precision in biological cells and novel diagnostic devices.

revised version accepted in J. Phys. A: Math. Theor

References in corpus (8)

• A physical perspective on cytoplasmic streaming (invited)
• First passage time distribution in heterogeneity controlled kinetics: going beyond the mean first passage time
• Spatial effects on the speed and reliability of protein-DNA search
• Occupation Time Statistics in the Quenched Trap Model
• Statistical Properties of Functionals of the Paths of a Particle Diffusing in a One-Dimensional Random Potential
• Localization and universal fluctuations in ultraslow diffusion processes
• Optimization and universality of Brownian search in quenched heterogeneous media
• Superdiffusion dominates intracellular particle motion in the supercrowded space of pathogenic Acanthamoeba castellanii

Cited by in corpus (5)

• First passage time statistics for two-channel diffusion
• Spectral theory of fluctuations in time-average statistical mechanics of reversible and driven systems
• Universal tradeoff relation between speed, uncertainty, and dissipation in nonequilibrium stationary states
• Non-Markovian intracellular transport with sub-diffusion and run-length dependent detachment rate
• Diffusion of Active Particles With Stochastic Torques Modeled as $\alpha$-Stable Noise