Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Significance It is not fully understood how cells process information in the face of noise. We posed this question in the transforming growth factor-β (Tgf-β) pathway, a major intercellular signaling pathway in animal cells. We found evidence that rather than sensing the signaling state of the Tgf-β pathway, cells sense the signaling state relative to background. Finding that signaling dynamics are interpreted in a relative manner may have implications for how we understand the pathway’s context-dependent outcomes and roles in diseases. Our work reinforces an emerging principle that individual cells process signal in a relative manner.
Frick et al. (Mon,) studied this question.