Spatial aspects of intracellular information processing

The computational properties of intracellular biochemical networks, for which the cell is assumed to be a ‘well-mixed’ reactor, have already been widely characterized. What has so far not received systematic treatment is the important role of space in many intracellular computations. Spatial network computations can be divided into two broad categories: those required for essential spatial processes (e.g. polarization, chemotaxis, division, and development) and those for which space is simply used as an extra dimension to expand the computational power of the network. Several pertinent recent examples of each category are discussed that illustrate the often conceptually subtle role of space in the processing of intracellular information.