Biological organisation as closure of constraints

Journal of Theoretical Biology
Maël Montévil, Matteo Mossio

Abstract

We propose a conceptual and formal characterisation of biological organisation as a closure of constraints. We first establish a distinction between two causal regimes at work in biological systems: processes, which refer to the whole set of changes occurring in non-equilibrium open thermodynamic conditions; and constraints, those entities which, while acting upon the processes, exhibit some form of conservation (symmetry) at the relevant time scales. We then argue that, in biological systems, constraints realise closure, i.e. mutual dependence such that they both depend on and contribute to maintaining each other. With this characterisation in hand, we discuss how organisational closure can provide an operational tool for marking the boundaries between interacting biological systems. We conclude by focusing on the original conception of the relationship between stability and variation which emerges from this framework.

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Citations

Oct 21, 2015·Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI·Albert Sundrum
Oct 23, 2016·Bio Systems·Leonardo Bich, Alvaro Moreno
Aug 16, 2015·Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology·Eliseo Fernández
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Jul 28, 2016·Acta Biotheoretica·Matteo Mossio, Cristian Saborido
Aug 16, 2016·Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology·Matteo MossioGiuseppe Longo
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Sep 13, 2019·PLoS Computational Biology·Bruno BurlandoGiulia Giordano
Sep 15, 2019·Acta Biotheoretica·Samuel Cusimano, Beckett Sterner
Jan 30, 2020·BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology·Michael Levin
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Jul 7, 2020·Frontiers in Physiology·Maël Montévil, Matteo Mossio
Jan 4, 2021·Theory in Biosciences = Theorie in Den Biowissenschaften·Paul-Antoine Miquel, Su-Young Hwang
Jan 26, 2021·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·William Bechtel, Leonardo Bich
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Aug 25, 2021·BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology·Nino LauberKepa Ruiz-Mirazo
Dec 28, 2021·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Stuart P Wilson, Tony J Prescott

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