MSGID: 1:317/3 64b0cf65   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    The economic life of cells    
    Theory from microeconomics used to predict how biological systems respond   
   to environmental change    
      
     Date:   
         July 13, 2023   
     Source:   
         University of Tokyo   
     Summary:   
         A team has combined economic theory with biology to understand   
         how natural systems respond to change. The researchers noticed a   
         similarity between consumers' shopping behavior and the behavior   
         of metabolic systems, which convert food into energy in our   
         bodies. The team focused on predicting how different metabolic   
         systems might respond to environmental change by using an economic   
         tool called the Slutsky equation. Their calculations indicated   
         that very different metabolic systems actually share previously   
         unknown universal properties, and can be understood using tools   
         from other academic fields. Metabolic processes are used in drug   
         development, bioengineering, food production and other industries,   
         so being able to predict how such systems will respond to change   
         can offer many benefits.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   A team from the University of Tokyo has combined economic theory   
   with biology to understand how natural systems respond to change. The   
   researchers noticed a similarity between consumers' shopping behavior and   
   the behavior of metabolic systems, which convert food into energy in our   
   bodies. The team focused on predicting how different metabolic systems   
   might respond to environmental change by using an economic tool called   
   the Slutsky equation. Their calculations indicated that very different   
   metabolic systems actually share previously unknown universal properties,   
   and can be understood using tools from other academic fields. Metabolic   
   processes are used in drug development, bioengineering, food production   
   and other industries, so being able to predict how such systems will   
   respond to change can offer many benefits.   
      
   Where do you get your energy from? Perhaps a long night's sleep, or a   
   good breakfast and some exercise? These activities can all help as they   
   support a healthy metabolism, the chemical processes by which our bodies   
   convert food and drink into energy. Understanding how individual metabolic   
   reactions behave and predicting how they may change under different   
   circumstances is a big challenge. There are thousands of different   
   reactions which enable us to move, think, grow -- in short, to live. In   
   recent years, it has become possible to predict some reactions through   
   numerical simulations, but this requires large amounts of data. However,   
   researchers at the University of Tokyo have derived previously unknown   
   universal properties of metabolic systems by applying microeconomic   
   theory to their data.   
      
   "Until this research, we thought that metabolic systems varied so much   
   among species and cell types that there were no common properties among   
   them," explained Assistant Professor Tetsuhiro Hatakeyama from the   
   Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. "However, we were very excited to   
   demonstrate that all metabolic systems have universal properties, and   
   that these properties can be expressed by very simple laws."According to   
   the researchers, this theory does not require as much detailed background   
   data to be collected as other methods.   
      
   It can also be effectively applied whether you are trying to understand   
   the behavior of all metabolic processes in a cell or focusing on just   
   one part - - say, for example, how much oxygen it is using.   
      
   Hatakeyama, a biophysicist, was looking at some metabolic system diagrams   
   when he noticed a striking similarity to diagrams used in economics. This   
   realization inspired him to try an interdisciplinary approach and   
   apply economic theory, which he had briefly studied, to his biology   
   research. Along with co-author Jumpei Yamagishi, a graduate student in   
   the same lab, he decided to explore how both consumers and cells optimize   
   their "spending" to maximize gain: Whereas we as consumers spend money,   
   cells "spend" nutrients. They reasoned if there were similarities in this   
   way, then perhaps the same theories that are used to identify patterns in   
   consumer behavior under changing financial situations could also identify   
   patterns in cellular metabolic behavior under changing environments.   
      
   More specifically, the researchers focused on the Slutsky equation,   
   which is used to understand changes in consumer demand. In particular,   
   it is used to understand so-called Giffen goods, which counterintuitively   
   go up in demand when the price increases and go down in demand when the   
   price decreases.   
      
   According to Hatakeyama, this is similar to cellular metabolic behavior   
   in response to a disturbance. For example, respiration demand (the Giffen   
   goods in this case) in cancer cells goes up, counterintuitively, with   
   increased drug dosage (the "price"), even though this is not beneficial   
   to the growth rate of the cancer. The outcome was that the team uncovered   
   a universal law for how metabolic systems respond to change.   
      
   One of the key benefits of this law is that it can be used to understand   
   metabolic systems about which few details are known. "Disturbances in   
   metabolic systems lead to a variety of diseases, and our research could be   
   used to propose new treatment strategies for diseases for which treatments   
   are not fully understood," said Hatakeyama. "In addition, many foods and   
   medicines are made using the metabolic systems of organisms. By applying   
   the simple equation found in this study, we can know how to increase   
   the output of products made with these systems." Hatakeyama hopes that   
   through further interdisciplinary research, more universal laws might   
   be discovered that will lead to a variety of useful applications.   
      
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   Materials provided by University_of_Tokyo. Note: Content may be edited   
   for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Jumpei F. Yamagishi, Tetsuhiro S. Hatakeyama. Linear Response   
      Theory of   
         Evolved Metabolic Systems. Physical Review Letters, 2023; 131 (2)   
         DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.028401   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230713141932.htm   
      
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