Chemical sensing by nonequilibrium cooperative receptors.

Publication Year
2013

Type

Journal Article
Abstract

Cooperativity arising from local interactions in equilibrium receptor systems provides gain, but does not increase sensory performance, as measured by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) due to a fundamental tradeoff between gain and intrinsic noise. Here we allow sensing to be a nonequilibrium process and show that energy dissipation cannot circumvent the fundamental tradeoff, so that the SNR is still optimal for independent receptors. For systems requiring high gain, nonequilibrium 2D-coupled receptors maximize the SNR, revealing a new design principle for biological sensors.

Journal
Phys Rev Lett
Volume
110
Issue
24
Pages
248102
Date Published
06/2013
Alternate Journal
Phys. Rev. Lett.