Nonequilibrium physics in biology

Xiaona Fang, Karsten Kruse, Ting Lu, and Jin Wang
Rev. Mod. Phys. 91, 045004 – Published 20 December 2019

Abstract

Life is characterized by a myriad of complex dynamic processes allowing organisms to grow, reproduce, and evolve. Physical approaches for describing systems out of thermodynamic equilibrium have been increasingly applied to living systems, which often exhibit phenomena not found in those traditionally studied in physics. Spectacular advances in experimentation during the last decade or two, for example, in microscopy, single-cell dynamics, in the reconstruction of subcellular and multicellular systems outside of living organisms, and in high throughput data acquisition, have yielded an unprecedented wealth of data on cell dynamics, genetic regulation, and organismal development. These data have motivated the development and refinement of concepts and tools to dissect the physical mechanisms underlying biological processes. Notably, landscape and flux theory as well as active hydrodynamic gel theory have proven useful in this endeavor. Together with concepts and tools developed in other areas of nonequilibrium physics, significant progress has been made in unraveling the principles underlying efficient energy transport in photosynthesis, cellular regulatory networks, cellular movements and organization, embryonic development and cancer, neural network dynamics, population dynamics and ecology, as well as aging, immune responses, and evolution. Here recent advances in nonequilibrium physics are reviewd and their application to biological systems is surveyed. Many of these results are expected to be important cornerstones as the field continues to build our understanding of life.

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  • Received 13 July 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.91.045004

© 2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Physics of Living Systems

Authors & Affiliations

Xiaona Fang

  • State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Changchun, Jilin 130022, China and Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-3400, USA

Karsten Kruse

  • NCCR Chemical Biology, Department of Biochemistry and Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Geneva, 30 quai Ernest-Ansermet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland

Ting Lu

  • Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA

Jin Wang*

  • Department of Chemistry and Physics, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA

  • *jin.wang.1@stonybrook.edu

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Issue

Vol. 91, Iss. 4 — October - December 2019

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