2026-03-13 東京大学
図1：提案手法をバクテリアの化学走性へ適用した概要図。
2つのべん毛モーターが同一の細胞内シグナルを受ける「自然なデュアルレポーター」として機能し、入力を測定せずに情報の流れを定量化する相互情報量を推定できることを示した。
＜関連情報＞
デュアルレポーターシステムによる情報フローの定量化とその細菌走化性への応用 Quantification of Information Flow by Dual Reporter System and Its Application to Bacterial Chemotaxis
Kento Nakamura, Hajime Fukuoka, Akihiko Ishijima, and Tetsuya J. Kobayashi
Physical Review Letters Published: 12 March, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jrph-wj94
Abstract
Mutual information is a theoretically grounded metric for quantifying cellular signaling pathways. However, its measurement demands characterization of both input and output distributions, limiting practical applications. Here, we present alternative method that alleviates this requirement using dual reporter systems. By extending extrinsic-intrinsic noise analysis, we derive a mutual information estimator that eliminates the need to measure input distribution. We demonstrate our method by analyzing the bacterial chemotactic pathway, regarding multiple flagellar motors as natural dual reporters. We show the biological relevance of the measured information flow by comparing it with theoretical bounds on sensory information. This framework opens new directions for quantifying information flow in cellular signaling pathways.
