On the relation between fluctuation and response in biological systems

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2334996100
• Publication Date: 2003-11-25T20:59:06Z
• Authors: Katsuhiko Sato; Yoichiro Ito; Tetsuya Yomo; Kunihiko Kaneko
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Green Fluorescent Proteins; Biophysics; Biological Evolution; Models, Biological; Biophysical Phenomena; Recombinant Proteins; 3. Good health; Luminescent Proteins; 03 medical and health sciences; Mutation; Escherichia coli; Directed Molecular Evolution

A general relationship between fluctuation and response in a biological system is presented. The fluctuation is given by the variance of some quantity, whereas the response is given as the average change of that quantity for a given parameter change. We propose a relationship where the two are proportional, in a similar way to the fluctuation–dissipation theorem in physics. By studying an evolution experiment where fluorescence of protein in bacteria increases, we confirm our relation by observing a positive correlation between the speed of fluorescence evolution and the phenotypic fluctuation of the fluorescence over clone bacteria. The generality of the relationship as well as its relevance to evolution is discussed.