Microeconomics of Metabolism: The Warburg Effect as Giffen Behaviour.

ABSTRACT: Metabolic behaviours of proliferating cells are often explained as a consequence of rational optimization of cellular growth rate, whereas microeconomics formulates consumption behaviours as optimization problems. Here, we pushed beyond the analogy to precisely map metabolism onto the theory of consumer choice. We thereby revealed the correspondence between long-standing mysteries in both fields: the Warburg effect, a seemingly wasteful but ubiquitous strategy where cells favour aerobic glycolysis over more energetically efficient oxidative phosphorylation, and Giffen behaviour, the unexpected consumer behaviour where a good is demanded more as its price rises. We identified the minimal, universal requirements for the Warburg effect: a trade-off between oxidative phosphorylation and aerobi

SUBMITTER: Yamagishi JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8558188 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature