Strategies of Explanatory Abstraction in Molecular Systems Biology.

I consider three explanatory strategies from recent systems biology that are driven by mathematics as much as mechanistic detail. Analysis of differential equations drives the first strategy; topological analysis of network motifs drives the second; mathematical theorems from control engineering dri...

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Publicado en:Philosophy of Science Vol. 85; no. 5; pp. 955 - 969
Autor principal: Jones, Nicholaos
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Cambridge University Press Dec2018
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        au: Jones, Nicholaos
      su:
        Systems biology
        Escherichia coli
        Chemotaxis
        Biochemistry
        Automatic control systems
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        subj:
          Systems biology
          Escherichia coli
          Chemotaxis
          Biochemistry
          Automatic control systems
      ab: I consider three explanatory strategies from recent systems biology that are driven by mathematics as much as mechanistic detail. Analysis of differential equations drives the first strategy; topological analysis of network motifs drives the second; mathematical theorems from control engineering drive the third. I also distinguish three abstraction types: aggregations, which simplify by condensing details; generalizations, which simplify by generalizing details; and structurations, which simplify by contextualizing details. Using a common explanandum as a reference point—namely, the robust perfect adaptation of chemotaxis in Escherichia coli —I argue that each strategy targets various abstraction types to different mechanistic details.
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    language: English
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