Response Time and Its Role in Noise Filtering

Abstract A cell consists of many interacting biomolecular components that form some basic feed-back loops, such as positive or negative feedback loops. When biological signals transduce through cascades consisting of various loops they will be affected or even distorted. Especially, how to process various signals buried in various intrinsic and extrinsic noises is an important issue. In this paper, a method on how to cope with these signals will be discussed. A parameter to measure the response time of the signal transduction i.e., τ0.9, and its relationship between the response time and noise filtering will be discussed. Generally speaking, the longer the response time is, the better the ability to filter noises will be. Then we discuss how to enhance the ability to filter noises in a pos-itive or negative feedback loops, and draw a conclusion that coupling feedback loops can enhance the ability