The scale-free dynamics of eukaryotic cells
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Date
2008
Authors
Aon, Miguel A.
Roussel, Marc R.
Cortassa, Sonia
O'Rourke, Brian
Murray, Douglas B.
Beckmann, Manfred
Lloyd, David
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Abstract
Temporal organization of biological processes requires massively parallel processing on a synchronized time-base. We
analyzed time-series data obtained from the bioenergetic oscillatory outputs of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and isolated
cardiomyocytes utilizing Relative Dispersional (RDA) and Power Spectral (PSA) analyses. These analyses revealed broad
frequency distributions and evidence for long-term memory in the observed dynamics. Moreover RDA and PSA showed that
the bioenergetic dynamics in both systems show fractal scaling over at least 3 orders of magnitude, and that this scaling
obeys an inverse power law. Therefore we conclude that in S. cerevisiae and cardiomyocytes the dynamics are scale-free in
vivo. Applying RDA and PSA to data generated from an in silico model of mitochondrial function indicated that in yeast and
cardiomyocytes the underlying mechanisms regulating the scale-free behavior are similar. We validated this finding in vivo
using single cells, and attenuating the activity of the mitochondrial inner membrane anion channel with 4-chlorodiazepam
to show that the oscillation of NAD(P)H and reactive oxygen species (ROS) can be abated in these two evolutionarily distant
species. Taken together these data strongly support our hypothesis that the generation of ROS, coupled to redox cycling,
driven by cytoplasmic and mitochondrial processes, are at the core of the observed rhythmicity and scale-free dynamics. We
argue that the operation of scale-free bioenergetic dynamics plays a fundamental role to integrate cellular function, while
providing a framework for robust, yet flexible, responses to the environment.
Description
Sherpa Romeo green journal: open access
Keywords
Scale-free dynamics , Eukaryotic cells , Fractal scaling , Yeast , Cardiomyocytes , Heart cells , Relative dispersional analysis , Power spectral analysis
Citation
Aon, M. A., Roussel, M. R., Cortassa, S., O'Rourke, B., Murray, D. B., Beckmann, M., & Lloyd, D. (2008). The scale-free dynamics of eukaryotic cells. PLoS ONE, 3(11), e3624. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003624