Evolutionary tradeoffs between economy and effectiveness in biological homeostasis systems.

ABSTRACT: Biological regulatory systems face a fundamental tradeoff: they must be effective but at the same time also economical. For example, regulatory systems that are designed to repair damage must be effective in reducing damage, but economical in not making too many repair proteins because making excessive proteins carries a fitness cost to the cell, called protein burden. In order to see how biological systems compromise between the two tasks of effectiveness and economy, we applied an approach from economics and engineering called Pareto optimality. This approach allows calculating the best-compromise systems that optimally combine the two tasks. We used a simple and general model for regulation, known as integral feedback, and showed that best-compromise systems have particular combinations

SUBMITTER: Szekely P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3738462 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature