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Wiley Open Access, Molecular Systems Biology, 1(5), p. 325, 2009

DOI: 10.1038/msb.2009.79

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Information processing and signal integration in bacterial quorum sensing

Journal article published in 2009 by Pankaj Mehta, Sidhartha Goyal, Tao Long ORCID, Bonnie L. Bassler, Ned S. Wingreen
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Postprint: archiving allowed
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Published version: archiving allowed
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Abstract

Bacteria communicate using secreted chemical signaling molecules called autoinducers in a process known as quorum sensing. The quorum-sensing network of the marine bacterium {\it Vibrio harveyi} employs three autoinducers, each known to encode distinct ecological information. Yet how cells integrate and interpret the information contained within the three autoinducer signals remains a mystery. Here, we develop a new framework for analyzing signal integration based on Information Theory and use it to analyze quorum sensing in {\it V. harveyi}. We quantify how much the cells can learn about individual autoinducers and explain the experimentally observed input-output relation of the {\it V. harveyi} quorum-sensing circuit. Our results suggest that the need to limit interference between input signals places strong constraints on the architecture of bacterial signal-integration networks, and that bacteria likely have evolved active strategies for minimizing this interference. Here we analyze two such strategies: manipulation of autoinducer production and feedback on receptor number ratios. ; Comment: Supporting information is in appendix