Homeostatic set-points are physical and foundational to organism autonomy

Area of Science:

• Biophysics
• Systems Biology
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Living systems maintain far-from-equilibrium states, posing challenges to standard physical descriptions of autonomy.
• Understanding how biological systems initiate and control their states is a fundamental question in life sciences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To elucidate the physical basis of homeostatic set-points in living systems.
• To explain how evolved enzymes confer autonomy and goal-directed behavior.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of information embodiment in enzyme structure.
• Investigation of gene translation, single molecule dynamics, and reaction kinetics.
• Examination of control system topology and allosteric regulation.

Main Results:

• Homeostatic set-points are physical information encoded in evolved enzyme structures.
• Enzyme properties, through kinetic regulation and allosteric control, determine the set-point.
• Allosteric enzymes function analogously to adaptor molecules in biological coding.

Conclusions:

• Evolved enzyme properties dictate biochemical regulation parameters and set-points.
• Living systems exhibit cybernetic independence through goal-directed behavior, a phenotype not found in abiotic systems.
• The genotype-phenotype relationship is crucial for embodying specific information that drives homeostasis.