Evolutionary Tradeoffs between Economy and Effectiveness in Biological Homeostasis Systems

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003163
• Publication Date: 2013-08-08T16:58:02Z
• Authors: Pablo Szekely; Hila Sheftel; Avi Mayo; Uri Alon
• Keywords: Compromise; Zymomonas mobilis

Biological regulatory systems face a fundamental tradeoff: they must be effective but at the same time also economical. For example, that are designed to repair damage in reducing damage, economical not making too many proteins because excessive carries fitness cost cell, called protein burden. In order see how biological compromise between two tasks of effectiveness and economy, we applied an approach from economics engineering Pareto optimality. This allows calculating best-compromise optimally combine tasks. We used simple general model for regulation, known as integral feedback, showed have particular combinations biochemical parameters control response rate basal level. find optimal fall on curve parameter space. Due this feature, even if one is able measure only small fraction system's parameters, can infer rest. estimate three systems: heat shock DNA bacteria, calcium homeostasis mammals.