Signal processing through a generalized module of adaptation and spatial sensing

Signal transduction in many cellular processes is accompanied by the feature of adaptation, which allows certain key signalling components to respond to temporal and/or spatial variation of external signals, independent of the absolute value of the signal. We extend and formulate a more general module which accounts for robust temporal adaptation and spatial response. In this setting, we examine various aspects of spatial and temporal signalling, as well as the signalling consequences and restrictions imposed by virtue of adaptation. This module is able to exhibit a variety of behaviour in response to temporal, spatial and spatio-temporal inputs. We carefully examine the roles of various parameters in this module and how they affect signal processing and propagation. Overall, we demonstrate how a simple module can account for a range downstream responses to a variety of input signals, and how elucidating the downstream response of many cellular components in systems with such adaptive signalling can be consequently very non-trivial.