Thermodynamic limits on general far-from-equilibrium molecular templating networks

Abstract

Cells produce RNA and proteins via molecular templating networks. We show that information transmission in such networks is bounded by functions of a simple thermodynamic property of the network, regardless of complexity. Surprisingly, putative systems operating at this bound do not have a high flux around the network. Instead, they have low entropy production, with each product in a ``pseudo-equilibrium'' determined by a single pathway. These pseudo-equilibrium limits constrain information transmission for the overall network, even if individual templates are arbitrarily specific.