Randomness in biology

Abstract

Biology has contradictory relationships with randomness. First, it is a complex issue for an empirical science to ensure that apparently random events are truly random, this being further complicated by the loose definitions of unpredictability used in the discipline. Second, biology is made up of many different fields, which have different traditions and procedures for considering random events. Randomness is in many ways an inherent feature of evolutionary biology and genetics. Indeed, chance/Darwinian selection principles, as well as the combinatorial genetic lottery leading to gametes and fertilisation, rely, at least partially, on probabilistic laws that refer to random events. On the other hand, molecular biology has long been based on deterministic premises that have led to a focus on the precision of molecular interactions to explain phenotypes, and, consequently, to the relegation of randomness to the marginal status of ‘noise’. However, recent experimental results, as well as new theoretical frameworks, have challenged this view and may provide unifying explanations by acknowledging the intrinsic stochastic dimension of intracellular pathways as a biological parameter, rather than just as background noise. This should lead to a significant reappraisal of the status of randomness in the life sciences, and have important consequences on research strategies for theoretical and applied biology.

Unpredictable Nature of Environment on Nitrogen Supply and Demand

“…They also reported that inherent biological production, or genealogical processes, are entropic. Heams (2014) reported that randomness is, in many ways, an inherent feature of evolutionary biology and genetics. This is reflected in work by Lee (2002), who noted that the invasion success of many species depends on their ability to respond to natural selection.…”

“…This acknowledgment, which included biology, further ties the second law of thermodynamics to plant and crop production systems. Heams (2014) commented on the need for a reappraisal of the status of randomness in life sciences, which would have important consequences for research strategies in theoretical and applied biology.…”

EvoSketch: Simple simulations for learning random and probabilistic processes in evolution, and effects of instructional support on learners’ conceptual knowledge

“…The term randomness is often used in everyday language to explain that a phenomenon is purposeless as well as without order, predictability or pattern, while scientists use the term to suggest unpredictability without referring to purposelessness (Buiatti and Longo 2013;Mead and Scott 2010;Wagner 2012). In fact, the notion of randomness in evolution is rather specific by speaking about events (e.g., mutations or genetic drift) that are independent of an organisms' need or the directionality provided by the process of natural selection (Heams 2014;Mead and Scott 2010). Thus, mutations are called random because they are not directed to an organisms' adaptation, and it cannot be predicted precisely where and when a mutation will appear (Heams 2014).…”

“…Hence, they can only be understood on an imaginary level, like all concepts beyond humans' perceptual (especially visible) dimensions (Lakoff 1987;Lakoff and Johnson 1980). For instance, random mutations in DNA are important sources of variation in the key evolutionary process of natural selection (Heams 2014). However, these mutations are not visible to the naked human eye, although they can be visualized technologically (e.g., using DNA sequencing techniques).…”

Can life be engineered? Epistemological roots and blind spots of Synthetic Biology

“…Most text-book depictions of intracellular precise regulatory networks or feedback loops originate from average measurements from cell populations that do not account for their intercellular variability. When performed at the single cell level, they reveal the stochasticity of intracellular dynamics, which itself originates in molecular crowding, low number of regulatory molecules, and high connectivity of gene and protein networks [45]. Debates are ongoing about the status of this random variations, from them being a background noise or an actual biological parameter, but this unpredictability underlines that the observed macroscopic biological order (i.e.…”