A formulation of the channel capacity of biochemical signaling cascades

TL;DR

This paper derives equations to quantify the information transmission capacity of biochemical signaling cascades, linking their function to entropy production rates in living organisms.

Contribution

It introduces a novel theoretical framework connecting channel capacity of signaling cascades with entropy production, advancing understanding of cellular information processing.

Findings

Derived equations for channel capacity and information density of BSCs.

Linked signaling efficiency to entropy production rates.

Provides a theoretical basis for analyzing biochemical information transfer.

Abstract

Living organisms are non-equilibrium, fluctuating, dynamic systems containing multi-step biological signaling cascades (BSC) with the ability to transduce changes in the concentration of extracellular molecules such as cytokines into changes in gene expression. Here, we derived basic equations that describe the channel capacity and information density of BSC in terms of the average entropy production rate deduced using the fluctuation theorem.