Cellular perception and misperception: Internal models for decision-making shaped by evolutionary experience
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2016-09-01Keywords
adaptationcell response
evolution
perception
regulation
signaling
Cell Biology
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Systems Biology
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Cells live in dynamic environments that necessitate perpetual adaptation. Since cells have limited resources to monitor external inputs, they are required to maximize the information content of perceived signals. This challenge is not unique to microscopic life: Animals use senses to perceive inputs and adequately respond. Research showed that sensory-perception is actively shaped by learning and expectation allowing internal cognitive models to "fill in the blanks" in face of limited information. We propose that cells employ analogous strategies and use internal models shaped through the long process of evolutionary adaptation. Given this perspective, we postulate that cells are prone to "misperceptions," analogous to visual illusions, leading them to incorrectly decode patterns of inputs that lie outside of their evolutionary experience. Mapping cellular misperception can serve as a fundamental approach for dissecting regulatory networks and could be harnessed to modulate cell behavior, a potentially new avenue for therapy.Source
Bioessays. 2016 Sep;38(9):845-9. doi: 10.1002/bies.201600090. Epub 2016 Jul 27. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1002/bies.201600090Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/49976PubMed ID
27461864Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1002/bies.201600090