Departments of Physics & Astronomy and Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States of America.
J Phys Condens Matter. 2018 Jun 6;30(22):223001. doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/aabd9f. Epub 2018 Apr 12.
Cells measure a vast variety of signals, from their environment's stiffness to chemical concentrations and gradients; physical principles strongly limit how accurately they can do this. However, when many cells work together, they can cooperate to exceed the accuracy of any single cell. In this topical review, I will discuss the experimental evidence showing that cells collectively sense gradients of many signal types, and the models and physical principles involved. I also propose new routes by which experiments and theory can expand our understanding of these problems.
细胞可以测量各种信号，从环境的硬度到化学浓度和梯度；物理原理强烈限制了它们的精确测量能力。然而，当许多细胞协同工作时，它们可以合作超越单个细胞的精度。在这篇专题评论中，我将讨论实验证据，表明细胞集体感知许多信号类型的梯度，以及涉及的模型和物理原理。我还提出了新的途径，通过这些途径，实验和理论可以扩展我们对这些问题的理解。
