Information Processing by Bacterial Cells: Beyond First Approximations

From Q-bio

In my lab, we attempt to better understand the way genetic circuits in the cell represent and process information from the environment. To achieve this aim, one has to reexamine “first approximations” currently used when quantifying cellular information processing: (1) the description of cellular processes in terms of “concentrations” and “rates” rather than in terms of individual molecules and events; (2) the treatment cellular reactions as governed by diffusion and occurring in a “well-mixed” cell. We use E. coli as a model system and study gene activity at the resolution of individual events in space and time, thus going beyond these first approximations.