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Updated: Sep 20, 2025

High-resolution Spatiotemporal Analysis of Receptor Dynamics by Single-molecule Fluorescence Microscopy
Published on: July 25, 2014
Localization of signaling receptors maximizes cellular information acquisition in spatially structured natural
Zitong Jerry Wang1, Matt Thomson1
1Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
Abstract:
Cells in natural environments, such as tissue or soil, sense and respond to extracellular ligands with intricately structured and non-monotonic spatial distributions, sculpted by processes such as fluid flow and substrate adhesion. In this work, we show that spatial sensing and navigation can be optimized by adapting the spatial organization of signaling pathways to the spatial structure of the environment. We develop an information-theoretic framework for computing the optimal spatial organization of a sensing system for a given signaling environment. We find that receptor localization previously observed in cells maximizes information acquisition in simulated natural contexts, including tissue and soil. Specifically, information acquisition is maximized when receptors form localized patches at regions of maximal ligand concentration. Receptor localization extends naturally to produce a dynamic protocol for continuously redistributing signaling receptors, which when implemented using simple feedback, boosts cell navigation efficiency by 30-fold.
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