Sensitivity minimization, biological homeostasis and information theory

Area of Science:

• Systems Biology
• Control Theory
• Information Theory

Background:

• Organisms require sophisticated regulatory mechanisms for homeostasis and environmental adaptation.
• Control engineering principles, including feedback regulation, guide the design of such systems.
• Trade-offs are inherent in developing controllers to minimize disturbances.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review fundamental trade-offs in feedback regulation, focusing on Bode's integral formula.
• To explore the connection between control system constraints and information theory.
• To examine these constraints in biological systems, specifically glycolytic oscillations and bacterial chemotaxis.

Main Methods:

• Review of established principles in control engineering, particularly Bode's integral formula.
• Analysis of sensitivity minimization constraints through an information theory lens.
• Case studies of biological systems: glycolytic oscillations and bacterial chemotaxis.

Main Results:

• Bode's integral formula quantifies trade-offs in minimizing system sensitivity to disturbances.
• Control system constraints on sensitivity minimization are analogous to limitations in information transmission.
• Causality is identified as the root of these information-theoretic constraints.

Conclusions:

• The principles of control engineering offer valuable insights into biological regulatory mechanisms.
• Information theory provides a framework for understanding the fundamental limits of biological control.
• Analysis of biological systems reveals practical implications of these theoretical constraints.