Polarization as a Process: The Potential of Process Ontology for Understanding Cellular Symmetry Breaking

Research in molecular cell biology has typically been focused on identifying specific genes and proteins responsible for cellular phenomena. However, it is increasingly recognized that the function of many biomolecules is variable and context dependent, raising the question if specific components can adequately explain cellular mechanisms. Philosophers of biology have proposed an alternative perspective known as process ontology, posing that not objects or molecules, but processes are the fundamental units of living systems. Process ontology is gaining popularity in biological theory, but remains challenging to integrate into scientific practice. Here, we assess the applicability of the process perspective in the context of a concrete biological system, namely polarization in budding yeast. We identify relevant processes in yeast polarization at different timescales and examine how these processes affect our understanding of polarity. Using this case study, we demonstrate how the processual perspective evokes new kinds of scientific questions and provide concrete pointers for incorporating processual thought into cell biological research.