Information in Biological Systems and the Fluctuation Theorem

Abstract

Some critical trends in information theory, its role in living systems and utilization in fluctuation theory are discussed. The mutual information of thermodynamic coupling is incorporated into the generalized fluctuation theorem by using information theory and nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Thermodynamically coupled dissipative structures in living systems are capable of degrading more energy, and processing complex information through developmental and environmental constraints. The generalized fluctuation theorem can quantify the hysteresis observed in the amount of the irreversible work in nonequilibrium regimes in the presence of information and thermodynamic coupling.

Principles and open questions in functional brain network reconstruction

“…At the assessment level, this will involve checking the statistical but, more importantly, also the functional significance (Demirel, 2014;Ma et al, 2009) of the network properties emerging from brain imaging data analysis. Overall, the series of relevant questions should then be: is the mapping from data to networks reliable?…”

On the Origins of Life

“…The ATP synthesis, in turn, is matched and synchronized to cellular ATP utilization processes, since energy and matter flows must be directed by the information for them to be functional and serve a purpose. For living systems, the information is the cause and the entropy reduction is the result: Energy + Matter + Information → Locally reduced entropy (Increase of order) 25 Even the most conservative models of a minimally complex self-sustaining cell correspond to more than 100 proteins and more realistic analyses estimate much larger quantities. 26 Multiple copies of most proteins are also required to sustain cellular operations.…”

Review on biothermoydnamics applications: timeline, challenges, and opportunities

“…Entropy generation accompanies change of the energy states of biomolecules, which render them inactive or malfunctioning . Also, mutual information content may serve as a resource of free energy through feedback effect, and hence, the entropy of a system can decrease without heat dissipation in living systems by using the information correlation and functional self‐organization as a source of entropy decrease . Genetically induced repair and replacement processes are capable of maintaining the balance in favor of the functioning molecules , but with aging, the balance between these processes tends toward inactivation and malfunctioning .…”