Modeling and Modifying Response of Biochemical Processes for Biocomputing and Biosensing Signal Processing

TL;DR

This paper reviews how biochemical reaction cascades can be modeled and modified to achieve desired signal responses, such as sigmoid or threshold filtering, for biosensing and biocomputing applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of rate equation modeling techniques for enzymatic reactions and demonstrates how to design biochemical network components with tailored responses.

Findings

Conversion of convex responses to sigmoid via intensity filtering

Implementation of threshold filtering in biochemical processes

Design of biochemical network components with specific response characteristics

Abstract

Processes involving multi-input multi-step reaction cascades are used in developing novel biosensing, biocomputing, and decision making systems. In various applications different changes in responses of the constituent processing steps (reactions) in a cascade are desirable in order to allow control of the system's response. Here we consider conversion of convex response to sigmoid by "intensity filtering," as well as "threshold filtering," and we offer a general overview of this field of research. Specifically, we survey rate equation modelling that has been used for enzymatic reactions. This allows us to design modified biochemical processes as "network components" with responses desirable in applications.