Cell-to-Cell Information at a Feedback-Induced Bifurcation Point

Amir Erez, Tommy A. Byrd, Michael Vennettilli, and Andrew Mugler
Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 048103 – Published 22 July 2020
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Abstract

A ubiquitous way that cells share information is by exchanging molecules. Yet, the fundamental ways that this information exchange is influenced by intracellular dynamics remain unclear. Here we use information theory to investigate a simple model of two interacting cells with internal feedback. We show that cell-to-cell molecule exchange induces a collective two-cell critical point and that the mutual information between the cells peaks at this critical point. Information can remain large far from the critical point on a manifold of cellular states but scales logarithmically with the correlation time of the system, resulting in an information-correlation time trade-off. This trade-off is strictly imposed, suggesting the correlation time as a proxy for the mutual information.

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  • Received 31 October 2019
  • Accepted 6 July 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.048103

© 2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Statistical Physics & ThermodynamicsPhysics of Living Systems

Authors & Affiliations

Amir Erez1, Tommy A. Byrd2, Michael Vennettilli2, and Andrew Mugler2,*

  • 1Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA
  • 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA

  • *amugler@purdue.edu

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Vol. 125, Iss. 4 — 24 July 2020

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