How do incorrect ligands help detect a correct ligand?
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.
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BibTeX
@misc{chen2026incorrect,
title = {{How do incorrect ligands help detect a correct ligand?}},
author = {Yan-Ru Chen and Kwan-tai Leung and Hsuan-Yi Chen},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.25708},
eprint = {2609.25708},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.25708},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - How do incorrect ligands help detect a correct ligand?
AU - Yan-Ru Chen
AU - Kwan-tai Leung
AU - Hsuan-Yi Chen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.25708
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.25708
AB - 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.
ER -