Cellinfo · Quantification of information flow in a cell signaling pathway
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2022-09-01 → 2024-08-31
- EU contribution
- €184,708
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Quantification of information flow in a cell signaling pathway
Living organisms make decisions based on the information they collect from the environment. Decisions are met on every level of organismal function, including single cells which make up the organism. Cells use signalling pathways as windows into the environment to collect information. Signalling pathways are interconnected cascades of chemical reactions which transduce the information received at the receptor anchored in the cell membrane through a number of phosphorylation hubs. The relayed information is decoded by the cell and used to govern characteristic behaviours: growth, migration, division, apoptosis, etc. One of the key signalling pathways is the mitogen-activated protein kinase MAPK (ERK) pathway, highly conserved in eukaryots and governing multiple cellular functions. This fine-tuning of the MAPK pathway prompted a number of studies aiming to quantify the amount of information it transduces. Surprisinly, the results reported very low information content, ascribing the fine-tuning of the pathway function to other cellular mechanisms. The main objective of the project is a quantification of the intracellular information flow relayed through the MAPK signalling pathway. This broad objective encompasses several research questions addressed in the project. The first question, directly addressing the conundrum in the field, probes the ability of the pathway to distinguish between stimuli of different strengths, quantified as the number of bits of information relayed. The next step tackles the challenging estimate of the information exchanged between cells without external inputs. Finally, the project assesses the information encoded in the dynamic signal the pathway receives from the environment. The importance of this research is closely tied to our advancement in understanding of organismal function. In the last decade, the interest in behaviour, decision-making and even cognitive properties on the level of single cells and cell populations has been reignited. The information-processing strategies lie at the heart of the described phenomena, making the efforts to quantify the information, such as in this project, highly relevant.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Signaling pathways are cascades of biochemical reactions that transduce environmental signals to the cell interior. The cells rely on the information transduced through signalling pathways to govern biological functions and maximise the fitness of the organism. Conversely, defects in the signalling pathways are implicated in various diseases, e.g. carcinogenesis. The intricate network of signalling pathways indicates the existence of sophisticated information processing mechanisms, motivating the key questions of this project: How much information is transmitted from the environment through the signalling pathway? How many features of the signals are conveyed? Are signals integrated over time? To answer these questions, the project combines state of the art quantitative optogenetic experiments and theoretical modelling using information theory to quantify the information flow in the canonical MAPK signaling pathway. Experimentally, a well-defined stimulus will be applied at the beginning of the pathway while measuring the response at the end of the signaling cascade. The results will be integrated into a theoretical framework based on statistical physics and information theory to quantify how much static and dynamic information is being transmitted, offering key insights into cell function — the building blocks of living organisms — with potential application in drug design. The strong interdisciplinary nature of this project and the detailed dissemination strategy promotes collaboration between research communities of physicists and biologists, as well as reinforces information as a key concept in life sciences. The included training plan ensures the candidate will acquire skills in advanced experimental and theoretical techniques, and the two-way transfer of knowledge provides mutual benefit between the candidate and the host institution.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- INSTITUT CURIE · ParisCoordinatorFrance
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union