{
  "abstract": "Intrigued by the response of T cell receptors to the presence of a few agonist ligands, we propose a minimal model that can achieve similar performance. The model consists of a small cluster of immobile receptors that bind reversibly to two types (correct/incorrect) of ligands in the environment, with slightly weaker binding strength for the incorrect one. It features binding-state coupling between nearest-neighbor receptors, and receptors in the bound/free states are activated/deactivated by specific enzymes, with rates that allow kinetic proofreading. It is found that, for a range of binding-state coupling strength, incorrect ligands alone cannot activate the receptors, but the binding of merely one correct ligand to a receptor is sufficient to promote the activation of other receptors via induced binding to incorrect ligands. Both response time and signal amplification increase as the receptor binding-state coupling strength increases until it reaches an optimal range to achieve the most rapid and sensitive response. These results suggest a possible mechanism for a speedy and specific response of receptors to very few correct ligands in biological and artificial systems at the subcellular scale.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.25708",
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Yan-Ru Chen"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kwan-tai Leung"
    },
    {
      "name": "Hsuan-Yi Chen"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bef8a4z4wz2dz.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.25708",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "bef8a4z4wz2dz",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.25708",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.soft"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.stat-mech"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.bio-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1312|Gene Regulatory Network Analysis"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214128323",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.25708",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-23",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bef8a4z4wz2dz.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:35:15Z",
      "native_id": "2609.25708",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.25708"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.bio-ph",
      "subfield": "biological-medical"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.soft",
      "subfield": "condensed-matter"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.stat-mech",
      "subfield": "statistical-nonlinear"
    }
  ],
  "title": "How do incorrect ligands help detect a correct ligand?",
  "title_text": "How do incorrect ligands help detect a correct ligand?",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:35:15Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bef8a4z4wz2dz",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}