Repulsive particle interactions enable selective information processing at cellular interfaces

Abstract

Living systems relay information across membrane interfaces to coordinate compartment functions. We identify a physical mechanism for selective information transmission that arises from the sigmoidal response of surface-bound particle densities to spatial features in adjacent external structures through a non-uniform binding energy. This mechanism implements a form of spatial thresholding, enabling the binary classification of external cues. Expansion microscopy measurements of nuclear pore complex distributions in S. arctica show signatures of such physical thresholding.