Predictive Power of "A Minima" Models in Biology.
Summary of "Predictive Power of "A Minima" Models in Biology."
Many apparently complex mechanisms in biology, especially in embryology and molecular biology, can be explained easily by reasoning at the level of the "efficient cause" of the observed phenomenology: the mechanism can then be explained by a simple geometrical argument or a variational principle, leading to the solution of an optimization problem, for example, via the co-existence of a minimization and a maximization problem (a min-max principle). Passing from a microscopic (or cellular) level (optimal min-max solution of the simple mechanistic system) to the macroscopic level often involves an averaging effect (linked to the repetition of a large number of such microscopic systems with possible random choice of the parameters of each of them) that gives birth to a global functional feature (e.g. at the tissue level). We will illustrate these general principles by building in four different domains of application "a minima" models and showing the main properties of their solutions: (1) extraction of a minimal RNA structure functioning as the first "peptidic machine," a kind of ancestral ribosome; (2) study of a genetic regulatory network of Drosophila centred on Engrailed gene and expressing successively two genes inside a limit cycle; (3) study of a genetic network regulating neural activity and proliferation in mammals; and (4) study of a simple geometric model of epiboly in zebrafish.
Affiliation
AGIM, FRE CNRS 3405, Faculty of Medicine of Grenoble, University J. Fourier, 38 700, La Tronche, France, Luis.Almeida@agim.eu.
Journal Details
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: Acta biotheoretica
ISSN: 1572-8358
Pages:
Links
- PubMed Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22318429
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10441-012-9146-4
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Predictive Value Of Tests
In screening and diagnostic tests, the probability that a person with a positive test is a true positive (i.e., has the disease), is referred to as the predictive value of a positive test; whereas, the predictive value of a negative test is the probability that the person with a negative test does not have the disease. Predictive value is related to the sensitivity and specificity of the test.
Computational Biology
A field of biology concerned with the development of techniques for the collection and manipulation of biological data, and the use of such data to make biological discoveries or predictions. This field encompasses all computational methods and theories applicable to MOLECULAR BIOLOGY and areas of computer-based techniques for solving biological problems including manipulation of models and datasets.
Models, Biological
Theoretical representations that simulate the behavior or activity of biological processes or diseases. For disease models in living animals, DISEASE MODELS, ANIMAL is available. Biological models include the use of mathematical equations, computers, and other electronic equipment.
Linear Models
Statistical models in which the value of a parameter for a given value of a factor is assumed to be equal to a + bx, where a and b are constants. The models predict a linear regression.
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