Cooperativity, sensitivity, and noise in biochemical signaling. Author William Bialek, Sima Setayeshgar Publication Year 2008 Type Journal Article Abstract Cooperative interactions in the binding of multiple signaling molecules is a common mechanism for enhancing the sensitivity of biological signaling systems. It is widely assumed this increase in sensitivity of the mean response implies the ability to detect smaller signals. Extending the classic work of Berg and Purcell [Biophys. J. 20, 193 (1977)] on the physical limits of chemoreception, we show that the random arrival of diffusing signaling molecules at receptor sites constitutes a noise source that is not reduced by cooperativity. Cooperativity makes reaching this limit easier, but cannot reduce the limit itself. Keywords Signal Transduction, Models, Biological, Receptors, Cell Surface, Binding Sites, Ligands, Kinetics Journal Phys Rev Lett Volume 100 Issue 25 Pages 258101 Date Published 06/2008 Alternate Journal Phys. Rev. Lett. Google ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML