Regensburg 2016 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 40: Statistical Physics of Biological Systems II (Joint Session with DY)
BP 40.1: Vortrag
Mittwoch, 9. März 2016, 11:30–11:45, H43
Receptor arrays optimized for sensing natural odors — •David Zwicker1, Arvind Murugan1,2, and Michael P. Brenner1 — 1School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University — 2Department of Physics and the James Franck Institute, University of Chicago
Natural odors typically consist of many molecules at different concentrations, which together determine the odor identity. This information is encoded in the collective response of olfactory receptors and subsequently interpreted by the brain. However, it is unclear how the receptors can measure both the composition of the odor and the concentrations of its constituents. I will discuss a theoretical model of receptor arrays from which we derive design principles for optimally communicating the odor information. These principles can be summarized as two possibly conflicting goals: (i) each receptor should respond to half of all odor mixtures; (ii) activity patterns of different receptors should be orthogonal. We show that there is a family of receptor arrays that satisfy these conditions and thus transfer the odor information near-optimally. Within this family, we can then discuss additional optimization goals, like the accuracy of concentration measurements and the capability for discriminating mixtures. Taken together, we can predict the performance and properties of receptor arrays based on a few, measurable quantities. Our work can thus be used to infer information about the receptors from physiological measurements. Moreover, we can use our results to improve artificial sensor arrays.