IPMU Colloquium

Speaker: Kunihiko Kaneko (Universal Biology Institute, U.Tokyo)
Title: Universality in Biology?: Fluctuation-response relationship and Deep Linearity in Adaptation and Evolution
Date (JST): Wed, Jun 14, 2017, 15:30 - 17:00
Place: Lecture Hall
Related File: 1873.pdf
Abstract: Based on statistical physics and dynamical-systems theory, we present a macroscopic theory of fluctuation and responses in a biological system, to characterize its plasticity, robustness, and evolvability quantitatively. First, by assuming that cells undergo steady growth, protein expression of thousands of genes is shown to change along a one-dimensional manifold in the state space in response to the environmental stress. This leads to a macroscopic law for cellular-states, as is confirmed by adaptation experiments of bacteria under stress. Next, the theory is extended to phenotypic evolution, to demonstrate grand fluctuation-response relationship, i.e., proportionality between phenotypic responses against genetic evolution and by environmental adaptation as well as between phenotypic fluctuations due to genetic change and noise, as is confirmed both in experiments and simulations.
This relationship is further formulated by sow- manifold hypothesis as a constraint for possible phenotypic changes.
Seminar Video: [VIDEO]