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Protein molecules as computational elements in living cells

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An Erratum to this article was published on 01 November 1995

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Abstract

Many proteins in living cells appear to have as their primary function the transfer and processing of information, rather than the chemical transformation of metabolic intermediates or the building of cellular structures. Such proteins are functionally linked through allosteric or other mechanisms into biochemical 'circuits' that perform a variety of simple computational tasks including amplification, integration and information storage.

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Bray, D. Protein molecules as computational elements in living cells. Nature 376, 307–312 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/376307a0

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