Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Cells often estimate chemical concentrations from only a few diffusing molecules, whose stochastic motion limits sensing precision. We consider a perfect monitoring instrument that records the instantaneous molecular density throughout a finite region without perturbing the concentration field or distinguishing molecular identities. The standard Berg-Purcell estimator weights all positions uniformly. Here we derive the optimal spatial weighting within a large class of unbiased estimators for both concentration and gradient sensing. Variance minimization maps to an electrostatic problem. Surprisingly, although the instrument monitors the entire volume, the optimal estimator assigns all weight to its boundary, reducing the uncertainty in both concentration and gradient sensing. We extend the results to arbitrary geometries and spatial dimensions.
Source: Physical Review Letters
DOI: 10.1103/3f8l-5ykv
Author: Farshid Jafarpour
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7202215415