Abstract
Many proteins in living cells appear to have as their primary function the transfer and processing of information, rather than the chemical transformation of metabolic intermediates or the building of cellular structures. Such proteins are functionally linked through allosteric or other mechanisms into biochemical 'circuits' that perform a variety of simple computational tasks including amplification, integration and information storage.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
196,21 € per year
only 3,85 € per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Change history
01 November 1995
An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/378419e0
References
Stryer, L. Biochemistry (Freeman, San Francisco, 1995).
Johnson, L. N. & Barford, D. A. Rev. Biophys. struct. Biol. 22, 199–232 (1994).
Hanson, P. I., Meyer, T., Stryer, L. & Schulman, H. Neuron 12, 943–956 (1994).
Anwyl, R. Curr. Biol. 4, 854–856 (1994).
Pawson, T. & Schlessinger, J. Curr. Biol. 3, 434–442 (1993).
Saltiel, A. R. FASEB J. 8, 1034–1040 (1994).
Morgan, D. O., Kaplan, J. M., Bishop, J. M. & Varmus, H. E. Cell 57, 775–786 (1989).
Roach, P. J. FASEB J. 4, 2961–2968 (1990).
Hille, B. Ionic Channels of Excitable Membranes (Sinauer, Sunderland, MA, 1992).
McCulloch, W. S. & Pitts, W. Bull. math. Biophys. 5, 115–133 (1943).
Minsky, M. & Papert, S. Perceptrons (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1969).
Rumelhart, D. E., McClelland, J. L. Parallel Distributed Processing. Explorations in the Microstructure of Cognition (MIT Press, Boston, MA, 1986).
Arkin, A. & Ross, J. Biophys. J. 67, 560–578 (1994).
Shacter, E., Chock, P. B. & Stadtman, E. R. J. biol. Chem. 259, 12252–12259 (1984).
Stadtman, E. R. & Chock, P. B. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74, 2761–2765 (1977).
Goldbeter, A. & Koshland, D. E. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 78, 6840–6844 (1981).
Bourne, H. R., Sanders, D. A. & McCormick, F. Nature 348, 125–132 (1990).
Hepler, J. R. & Gilman, A. G. Trends biochem. Sci. 17, 383–387 (1992).
Boguski, M. S. & McCormick, F. Nature 366, 643–654 (1993).
Hall, A. Science 264, 1413–1414 (1994).
Gilman, A. G. A. Rev. Biochem. 56, 615–649 (1987).
Chock, P. B. & Stadtman, E. R. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74, 2766–2770 (1977).
Okamoto, M., Sakai, T. & Hayashi, K. Biol. Cybern. 58, 295–299 (1988).
Hjelmfelt, A., Schneider, F. W. & Ross, J. Science 260, 335–337 (1993).
Bray, D. & Lay, S. Biophys. J. 66, 972–977 (1994).
Koshland, D. E., Goldbeter, A. & Stock, J. B. Science 217, 220–225 (1982).
Lamb, T. D. & Pugh, E. N. J. Physiol. Lond. 449, 710–758 (1992).
Stryer, L. Cold Spring Harb, Symp. quant. Biol. 53, 283–294 (1988).
Bray, D., Bourret, R. B. & Simon, M. I. Molec. Biol. Cell 4, 469–482 (1993).
Parkinson, J. S. & Kofoid, E. C. A. Rev. Genet. 26, 71–112 (1992).
Berg, H. C. & Tedesco, P. M. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 72, 3235–3239 (1975).
Lin, D. M. & Goodman, C. S. Neuron 13, 507–523 (1994).
Kishimoto, T., Taga, T. & Akira, S. Cell 76, 253–262 (1994).
Tjian, R. & Maniatis, T. Cell 77, 5–8 (1994).
Anholt, R. R. H. Trends Neurosci. 17, 37–41 (1994).
Murray, A. & Hunt, T. The Cell Cycle (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford. 1993).
Bray, D. Cell Movements (Garland Publishing, New York, 1992).
Bray, D. J. theor. Biol. 143, 215–231 (1990).
Zimmerman, S. B. & Minton, A. P. A. Rev. Biophys. struct. Biol. 22, 27–65 (1994).
Gegner, J. A., Graham, D. R., Roth, A. F. & Dahlquist, F. W. Cell 70, 975–982 (1992).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bray, D. Protein molecules as computational elements in living cells. Nature 376, 307–312 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/376307a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/376307a0