Multimodal perception links cellular state to decision-making in single cells

Individual cells make decisions that are adapted to their internal state and surroundings, but how cells can reliably do this remains unclear. To study the information processing capacity of human cells, we conducted multiplexed quantification of signaling responses and markers of the cellular state. Signaling nodes in a network displayed adaptive information processing, which led to heterogeneous growth factor responses and enabled nodes to capture partially nonredundant information about the cellular state. Collectively, as a multimodal percept this gives individual cells a large information processing capacity to accurately place growth factor concentration within the context of their cellular state and make cellular state–dependent decisions. Heterogeneity and complexity in signaling networks may have coevolved to enable specific and context-aware cellular decision-making in a multicellular setting.