dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaPerfect and near perfect adaptation in a model of bacterial chemotaxis
| Authors | Bernardo A. Mello, Yuhai Tu |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0211094 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0211094 |
| DOI | 10.1016/S0006-3495(03)70021-6 |
| Journal | Biophysical Journal, 84, 2943-2956 (2003) |
| License | http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/ |
Abstract
The signaling apparatus mediating bacterial chemotaxis can adapt to a wide range of persistent external stimuli. In many cases, the bacterial activity returns to its pre-stimulus level exactly and this "perfect adaptability" is robust against variations in various chemotaxis protein concentrations. We model the bacterial chemotaxis signaling pathway, from ligand binding to CheY phosphorylation. By solving the steady-state equations of the model analytically, we derive a full set of conditions for the system to achieve perfect adaptation. The conditions related to the phosphorylation part of the pathway are discovered for the first time, while other conditions are generalization of the ones found in previous works. Sensitivity of the perfect adaptation is evaluated by perturbing these conditions. We find that, even in the absence of some of the perfect adaptation conditions, adaptation can be achieved with near perfect precision as a result of the separation of scales in both chemotaxis protein concentrations and reaction rates, or specific properties of the receptor distribution in different methylation states. Since near perfect adaptation can be found in much larger regions of the parameter space than that defined by the perfect adaptation conditions, their existence is essential to understand robustness in bacterial chemotaxis.
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"abstract": "The signaling apparatus mediating bacterial chemotaxis can adapt to a wide\nrange of persistent external stimuli. In many cases, the bacterial activity\nreturns to its pre-stimulus level exactly and this \"perfect adaptability\" is\nrobust against variations in various chemotaxis protein concentrations. We\nmodel the bacterial chemotaxis signaling pathway, from ligand binding to CheY\nphosphorylation. By solving the steady-state equations of the model\nanalytically, we derive a full set of conditions for the system to achieve\nperfect adaptation. The conditions related to the phosphorylation part of the\npathway are discovered for the first time, while other conditions are\ngeneralization of the ones found in previous works. Sensitivity of the perfect\nadaptation is evaluated by perturbing these conditions. We find that, even in\nthe absence of some of the perfect adaptation conditions, adaptation can be\nachieved with near perfect precision as a result of the separation of scales in\nboth chemotaxis protein concentrations and reaction rates, or specific\nproperties of the receptor distribution in different methylation states. Since\nnear perfect adaptation can be found in much larger regions of the parameter\nspace than that defined by the perfect adaptation conditions, their existence\nis essential to understand robustness in bacterial chemotaxis.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0211094",
"authors": [
"Bernardo A. Mello",
"Yuhai Tu"
],
"categories": [
"physics.bio-ph",
"physics.chem-ph",
"q-bio"
],
"doi": "10.1016/S0006-3495(03)70021-6",
"journal_ref": "Biophysical Journal, 84, 2943-2956 (2003)",
"license": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
"title": "Perfect and near perfect adaptation in a model of bacterial chemotaxis",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0211094"
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