Information Dynamics in Living Systems: Prokaryotes, Eukaryotes, and Cancer
2011
Information Dynamics in Living Systems: Prokaryotes, Eukaryotes, and Cancer
publication
Evidence: moderate
Author Information
Author(s): Frieden B. Roy, Gatenby Robert A.
Hypothesis
The stability of the thermodynamic state of a living system requires the information state to be at an extremum.
Conclusion
Living systems achieve a stable entropic state by maintaining an extreme level of information, with cancer representing a reverse transition from maximum to minimum information.
Supporting Evidence
- Prokaryotes are constrained to an information minimum due to energy limitations.
- Eukaryotes achieve a high energy state through mitochondria, allowing for an information maximum.
- Cancer cells exhibit genomic instability and disordered morphology, indicating a transition to an information minimum.
Takeaway
Living things need a special amount of information to stay stable and alive, and when they lose that information, like in cancer, they can become very disordered.
Methodology
The study proposes a theoretical framework based on information dynamics and thermodynamics to explain the stability of living systems.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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