Trading bits in the readout from a genetic network

Abstract

<jats:title>Significance</jats:title> <jats:p>Many cellular processes depend on a quantitative response to the concentration of transcription factor molecules. A plethora of different mechanisms contribute to this concentration sensing: Multiple enhancers with a combination of binding sites regulate genes together based on spatially heterogeneous transcription factors. Using the early fly embryo as an example, we investigate abstract sensors with limited capacity due to noise and optimize so that the sensors capture as much information as possible about a cell’s position in the embryo. The resulting optimal sensors have important features in common with the known mechanisms of enhancer function.</jats:p>