Abstract
The precision of concentration sensing is improved when cells communicate. Here we derive the physical limits to concentration sensing for cells that communicate over short distances by directly exchanging small molecules (juxtacrine signaling), or over longer distances by secreting and sensing a diffusive messenger molecule (autocrine signaling). In the latter case, we find that the optimal cell spacing can be large, due to a trade-off between maintaining communication strength and reducing signal cross-correlations. This leads to the surprising result that sparsely packed communicating cells sense concentrations more precisely than densely packed communicating cells. We compare our results to data from a wide variety of communicating cell types.
- Received 13 March 2016
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.078101
© 2017 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Synopsis
Cell Sensing Improves in a Loose Crowd
Published 14 February 2017
Cells that communicate with each other can measure chemical concentrations with higher precision if they spread out into a sparse configuration.
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