SKM 2023 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 16: Systems Biophysics
BP 16.6: Talk
Wednesday, March 29, 2023, 12:45–13:00, BAR 0106
Information storage allows for optimal adaptation in chemical signalling networks out-of-equilibrium — •Daniel Maria Busiello1 and Giorgio Nicoletti2 — 1Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Germany — 2University of Padua, Italy
Living systems process information and exhibit dynamical adaptation. We propose a chemical model for sensing that encompasses only necessary ingredients: energy consumption, information storage, and negative feedback. Indeed, equilibrium constraints limit the efficiency of information processing, and storage is an unavoidable energy-consuming step to exploit information. Our model architecture is informed by experimental observations that found negative feedback to be ubiquitous. We show that the presence of information storage and negative feedback leads to finite-time memory, essential for dynamical adaptation. Surprisingly, adaptation is associated with both an increase in the mutual information between external and internal variables and a reduction of dissipation in the internal chemical processes. This twofold advantage comes at an energetic cost. By simultaneously optimising energy consumption and information processing features, we find that far-from-equilibrium sensing dominates in the low-noise regime. Finally, we employ our model to shed light on the adaptation of neurons in zebrafish larvae subjected to periodic visual stimuli. We find striking similarities between predicted and observed behaviours, quantifying dissipation and information-processing performance. Our theory provides a stepping stone towards the idea of highlighting crucial ingredients for information processing starting from a chemical description.