1
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Midha T, Mallory JD, Kolomeisky AB, Igoshin OA. Synergy among Pausing, Intrinsic Proofreading, and Accessory Proteins Results in Optimal Transcription Speed and Tolerable Accuracy. J Phys Chem Lett 2023; 14:3422-3429. [PMID: 37010247 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c00345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Cleavage of dinucleotides after the misincorporational pauses serves as a proofreading mechanism that increases transcriptional elongation accuracy. The accuracy is further improved by accessory proteins such as GreA and TFIIS. However, it is not clear why RNAP pauses and why cleavage-factor-assisted proofreading is necessary despite transcriptional errors in vitro being of the same order as those in downstream translation. Here, we developed a chemical-kinetic model that incorporates most relevant features of transcriptional proofreading and uncovers how the balance between speed and accuracy is achieved. We found that long pauses are essential for high accuracy, whereas cleavage-factor-stimulated proofreading optimizes speed. Moreover, in comparison to the cleavage of a single nucleotide or three nucleotides, RNAP backtracking and dinucleotide cleavage improve both speed and accuracy. Our results thereby show how the molecular mechanism and the kinetic parameters of the transcriptional process were evolutionarily optimized to achieve maximal speed and tolerable accuracy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tripti Midha
- Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Joel D Mallory
- Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Anatoly B Kolomeisky
- Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
- Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Oleg A Igoshin
- Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
- Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
- Department of Biosciences, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
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2
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Qureshi B, Juritz J, Poulton JM, Beersing-Vasquez A, Ouldridge TE. A universal method for analyzing copolymer growth. J Chem Phys 2023; 158:104906. [PMID: 36922142 DOI: 10.1063/5.0133489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Polymers consisting of more than one type of monomer, known as copolymers, are vital to both living and synthetic systems. Copolymerization has been studied theoretically in a number of contexts, often by considering a Markov process in which monomers are added or removed from the growing tip of a long copolymer. To date, the analysis of the most general models of this class has necessitated simulation. We present a general method for analyzing such processes without resorting to simulation. Our method can be applied to models with an arbitrary network of sub-steps prior to addition or removal of a monomer, including non-equilibrium kinetic proofreading cycles. Moreover, the approach allows for a dependency of addition and removal reactions on the neighboring site in the copolymer and thermodynamically self-consistent models in which all steps are assumed to be microscopically reversible. Using our approach, thermodynamic quantities such as chemical work; kinetic quantities such as time taken to grow; and statistical quantities such as the distribution of monomer types in the growing copolymer can be directly derived either analytically or numerically from the model definition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Qureshi
- Department of Bioengineering and Centre for Synthetic Biology, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
| | - Jordan Juritz
- Department of Bioengineering and Centre for Synthetic Biology, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
| | - Jenny M Poulton
- Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM), Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF), 1098 XE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Thomas E Ouldridge
- Department of Bioengineering and Centre for Synthetic Biology, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
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3
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Le LQ, Zhu K, Su H. Bridging ribosomal synthesis to cell growth through the lens of kinetics. Biophys J 2023; 122:544-553. [PMID: 36564946 PMCID: PMC9941725 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2022.12.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Revised: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding prokaryotic cell growth requires a multiscale modeling framework from the kinetics perspective. The detailed kinetics pathway of ribosomes exhibits features beyond the scope of the classical Hopfield kinetics model. The complexity of the molecular responses to various nutrient conditions poses additional challenge to elucidate the cell growth. Herein, a kinetics framework is developed to bridge ribosomal synthesis to cell growth. For the ribosomal synthesis kinetics, the competitive binding between cognate and near-cognate tRNAs for ribosomes can be modulated by Mg2+. This results in distinct patterns of the speed - accuracy relation comprising "trade-off" and "competition" regimes. Furthermore, the cell growth rate is optimized by varying the characteristics of ribosomal synthesis through cellular responses to different nutrient conditions. In this scenario, cellular responses to nutrient conditions manifest by two quadratic scaling relations: one for nutrient flux versus cell mass, the other for ribosomal number versus growth rate. Both are in quantitative agreement with experimental measurements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luan Quang Le
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore; Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China
| | - Kaicheng Zhu
- Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China
| | - Haibin Su
- Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China.
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4
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Oberreiter L, Seifert U, Barato AC. Universal minimal cost of coherent biochemical oscillations. Phys Rev E 2022; 106:014106. [PMID: 35974563 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.106.014106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Biochemical clocks are essential for virtually all living systems. A biochemical clock that is isolated from an external periodic signal and subjected to fluctuations can oscillate coherently only for a finite number of oscillations. Furthermore, such an autonomous clock can oscillate only if it consumes free energy. What is the minimum amount of free-energy consumption required for a certain number of coherent oscillations? We conjecture a universal bound that answers this question. A system that oscillates coherently for N oscillations has a minimal free-energy cost per oscillation of 4π^{2}Nk_{B}T. Our bound is valid for general finite Markov processes, is conjectured based on extensive numerical evidence, is illustrated with numerical simulations of a known model for a biochemical oscillator, and applies to existing experimental data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lukas Oberreiter
- II. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Stuttgart, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Udo Seifert
- II. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Stuttgart, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Andre C Barato
- Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA
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5
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Pigolotti S. Generalized Euler-Lotka equation for correlated cell divisions. Phys Rev E 2021; 103:L060402. [PMID: 34271641 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.103.l060402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2021] [Accepted: 04/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Cell division times in microbial populations display significant fluctuations that impact the population growth rate in a nontrivial way. If fluctuations are uncorrelated among different cells, the population growth rate is predicted by the Euler-Lotka equation, which is a classic result in mathematical biology. However, cell division times can be significantly correlated, due to physical properties of cells that are passed through generations. In this Letter, we derive an equation remarkably similar to the Euler-Lotka equation which is valid in the presence of correlations. Our exact result is based on large deviation theory and does not require particularly strong assumptions on the underlying dynamics. We apply our theory to a phenomenological model of bacterial cell division in E. coli and to experimental data. We find that the discrepancy between the growth rate predicted by the Euler-Lotka equation and our generalized version is relatively small, but large enough to be measurable by our approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone Pigolotti
- Biological Complexity Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology and Graduate University, Onna, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan
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6
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Zhang D, Ouyang Q. Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics in Biochemical Systems and Its Application. ENTROPY (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2021; 23:271. [PMID: 33668768 PMCID: PMC7996154 DOI: 10.3390/e23030271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2021] [Revised: 02/16/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
Living systems are open systems, where the laws of nonequilibrium thermodynamics play the important role. Therefore, studying living systems from a nonequilibrium thermodynamic aspect is interesting and useful. In this review, we briefly introduce the history and current development of nonequilibrium thermodynamics, especially that in biochemical systems. We first introduce historically how people realized the importance to study biological systems in the thermodynamic point of view. We then introduce the development of stochastic thermodynamics, especially three landmarks: Jarzynski equality, Crooks' fluctuation theorem and thermodynamic uncertainty relation. We also summarize the current theoretical framework for stochastic thermodynamics in biochemical reaction networks, especially the thermodynamic concepts and instruments at nonequilibrium steady state. Finally, we show two applications and research paradigms for thermodynamic study in biological systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongliang Zhang
- The State Key Laboratory for Artificial Microstructures and Mesoscopic Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;
| | - Qi Ouyang
- The State Key Laboratory for Artificial Microstructures and Mesoscopic Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;
- Center for Quantitative Biology and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, AAIC, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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7
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Rana S, Barato AC. Precision and dissipation of a stochastic Turing pattern. Phys Rev E 2020; 102:032135. [PMID: 33075863 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.102.032135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2020] [Accepted: 08/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Spontaneous pattern formation is a fundamental scientific problem that has received much attention since the seminal theoretical work of Turing on reaction-diffusion systems. In molecular biophysics, this phenomenon often takes place under the influence of large fluctuations. It is then natural to inquire about the precision of such pattern. In particular, spontaneous pattern formation is a nonequilibrium phenomenon, and the relation between the precision of a pattern and the thermodynamic cost associated with it remains largely unexplored. Here, we analyze this relation with a paradigmatic stochastic reaction-diffusion model, i.e., the Brusselator in one spatial dimension. We find that the precision of the pattern is maximized for an intermediate thermodynamic cost, i.e., increasing the thermodynamic cost beyond this value makes the pattern less precise. Even though fluctuations get less pronounced with an increase in thermodynamic cost, we argue that larger fluctuations can also have a positive effect on the precision of the pattern.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shubhashis Rana
- Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA
| | - Andre C Barato
- Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA
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8
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Mallory JD, Igoshin OA, Kolomeisky AB. Do We Understand the Mechanisms Used by Biological Systems to Correct Their Errors? J Phys Chem B 2020; 124:9289-9296. [PMID: 32857935 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c06180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Most cellular processes involved in biological information processing display a surprisingly low error rate despite the stochasticity of the underlying biochemical reactions and the presence of competing chemical species. Such high fidelity is the result of nonequilibrium kinetic proofreading mechanisms, i.e., the existence of dissipative pathways for correcting the reactions that went in the wrong direction. While proofreading was often studied from the perspective of error minimization, a number of recent studies have demonstrated that the underlying mechanisms need to consider the interplay of other characteristic properties such as speed, energy dissipation, and noise reduction. Here, we present current views and new insights on the mechanisms of error-correction phenomena and various trade-off scenarios in the optimization of the functionality of biological systems. Existing challenges and future directions are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joel D Mallory
- Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Oleg A Igoshin
- Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.,Department of Bioengineering and of Biosciences, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.,Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Anatoly B Kolomeisky
- Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.,Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.,Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.,Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
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9
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Toyabe S, Li CB, Kinbara K. Session 2SDA-Nonequilibrium energetics of biological molecular machines. Biophys Rev 2020; 12:273-274. [PMID: 32108300 DOI: 10.1007/s12551-020-00634-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2020] [Accepted: 02/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Shoichi Toyabe
- Department of Applied Physics, Grad. Sch. of Engineering, Tohoku University, Aoba 6-6-05, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan.
| | - Chun-Biu Li
- Department of Mathematics, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Kazushi Kinbara
- School of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagatsuda-cho 4259 B58, Midori-ku, Yokohama, 226-8501, Japan
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10
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Chiuchiú D, Tu Y, Pigolotti S. Error-Speed Correlations in Biopolymer Synthesis. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2019; 123:038101. [PMID: 31386470 PMCID: PMC7402413 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.123.038101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Synthesis of biopolymers such as DNA, RNA, and proteins are biophysical processes aided by enzymes. The performance of these enzymes is usually characterized in terms of their average error rate and speed. However, because of thermal fluctuations in these single-molecule processes, both error and speed are inherently stochastic quantities. In this Letter, we study fluctuations of error and speed in biopolymer synthesis and show that they are in general correlated. This means that, under equal conditions, polymers that are synthesized faster due to a fluctuation tend to have either better or worse errors than the average. The error-correction mechanism implemented by the enzyme determines which of the two cases holds. For example, discrimination in the forward reaction rates tends to grant smaller errors to polymers with faster synthesis. The opposite occurs for discrimination in monomer rejection rates. Our results provide an experimentally feasible way to identify error-correction mechanisms by measuring the error-speed correlations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Davide Chiuchiú
- Biological Complexity Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan
| | - Yuhai Tu
- IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA
| | - Simone Pigolotti
- Biological Complexity Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan
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