ArticleeLife2022
Cells use molecular working memory to navigate in changing chemoattractant fields.
Article in eLife, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Decoding cellular population dynamics through mechanistic modelling and statistical data analysis.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2026Review
- Polarization as a Process: The Potential of Process Ontology for Understanding Cellular Symmetry Breaking.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Unifying theories in high-dimensional biophysics: approaches, challenges and opportunities.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2026Article
- Start small: A model for tissue-wide planar cell polarity without morphogens.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Trainable computation in molecular networks.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Article
- Learning to Navigate in Chemical Fields Without A Map at Low Reynolds Numbers.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Pattern recognition in living cells through the lens of machine learning.Open biology · 2025Review
- Non-asymptotic transients away from steady states determine cellular responsiveness to dynamic spatial-temporal signals.PLoS computational biology · 2023Article
- Free energy dissipation enhances spatial accuracy and robustness of self-positioned Turing pattern in small biochemical systems.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2023Article
- How AI's Self-Prolongation Influences People's Perceptions of Its Autonomous Mind: The Case of U.S. Residents.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The linear framework II: using graph theory to analyse the transient regime of Markov processes.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In order to migrate over large distances, cells within tissues and organisms rely on sensing local gradient cues which are irregular, conflicting, and changing over time and space. The mechanism how they generate persistent directional migration when signals are disrupted, while still remaining adaptive to signal's localization changes remain unknown. Here, we find that single cells utilize a molecular mechanism akin to a working memory to satisfy these two opposing demands. We derive theoretically that this is characteristic for receptor networks maintained away from steady states. Time-resolved live-cell imaging of Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) phosphorylation dynamics shows that cells transiently memorize position of encountered signals via slow-escaping remnant of the polarized signaling state, a dynamical 'ghost', driving memory-guided persistent directional migration. The metastability of this state further enables migrational adaptation when encountering new signals. We thus identify basic mechanism of real-time computations underlying cellular navigation in changing chemoattractant fields.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.