Computational limits to binary genes
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Gene Digital Circuits Based on CRISPR-Cas Systems and Anti-CRISPR Proteins
Published on: October 18, 2022
Nicolae Radu Zabet1, Dominique F Chu
1School of Computing, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NF, UK. n.r.zabet@kent.ac.uk
Abstract:
We analyse the trade-off between the speed with which a gene can propagate information, the noise of its output and its metabolic cost. Our main finding is that for any given level of metabolic cost there is an optimal trade-off between noise and processing speed. Any system with a non-vanishing leak expression rate is suboptimal, i.e. it will exhibit higher noise and/or slower speed than leak-free systems with the same metabolic cost. We also show that there is an optimal Hill coefficient h which minimizes noise and metabolic cost at fixed speeds, and an optimal threshold K which minimizes noise.
More Related Videos
09:26DNA-Tethered RNA Polymerase for Programmable In vitro Transcription and Molecular Computation
Published on: December 29, 2021
09:23Quantification of Information Encoded by Gene Expression Levels During Lifespan Modulation Under Broad-range Dietary Restriction in C. elegans
Published on: August 16, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Combinatorial Gene Control
The expression of more than 30,000 genes is controlled by approximately 2000-3000 transcription factors. This is possible because a single transcription factor can recognize more than one regulatory sequence. The specificity in gene...
Structure of a Gene
However, only 1% of the DNA is composed of genes that encode proteins; the rest, 99% is non-coding DNA. This non-coding DNA performs...
Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes
Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes
Organization of Genes
Genome Copying Errors