Molecular and BioMolecular communication: Waveguides and possible role of microtubules

摘要

Living organisms provide undisputable evidence of biomolecular sensing, information processing and communication. Although the mechanisms of data and information processing and relevant tasks (coding, data storage, data retrieval, etc.) have not been fully comprehended, it is evident that extremely high data rate communication is maintained to support the exhibited functionalities and capabilities. Understanding the benchmarks of communication and processing in living organisms promise one to enable far-reaching foundations, transformative developments and breakthroughs. In this paper, we consider the spike-centric signaling, electromagnetic radiation, biophotonic and other communication schemes. We examine different mechanisms and apply well-established engineering concepts in analysis of communication channels. The channels ability to support the required data rates is assessed and evaluated. The channel capacity, attenuation rate and other descriptive measures are derived. We investigate microtubules as waveguides for propagating electromagnetic waves. It is shown through a set of representative examples that spike-centric signaling may not enable the required channel capacity, while microtubules may support extraordinary communication rates, superior speed and low attenuation at very high frequencies.