Characterizing communication properties of mechanosensitive signals

This paper considers information-theoretic aspects of mechanosensitive based communication signals in living organisms such as plants and bacteria. Mechanosensitive ion channels function as mechanosensitive transducers, which generate an activation signal in response to a mechanical stimulus. This activation signal is necessary for performing different functions, such as the coordination of growth or determining a response to a stress. The activation signal works by releasing a number of protein molecules carrying information in the transmitter cell which is the input signal of the system. These protein molecules propagate to the receiver cells through a diffusion based medium and react with receptors to produce output protein molecules, forming a molecular communication system. In this paper we develop a communication system model for mechanosensitive systems, and study the mutual information and the information propagation speed associated with their signals.