Entropy, Ergodicity and Stem Cell Multipotency

TL;DR

This paper investigates how variability in stem cell populations, modeled through entropy and ergodicity, contributes to their ability to respond to environmental changes, proposing a maximum entropy interpretation of multipotency.

Contribution

It introduces a stochastic model linking stem cell variability to criticality and interprets multipotency as a maximum entropy inference.

Findings

Stem cell populations operate near a critical state.

Variability enables rapid response to environmental changes.

Maximum entropy principle explains cellular multipotency.

Abstract

Populations of mammalian stem cells commonly exhibit considerable cell-cell variability. However, the functional role of this diversity is unclear. Here, we analyze expression fluctuations of the stem cell surface marker Sca1 in mouse hematopoietic progenitor cells using a simple stochastic model and find that the observed dynamics naturally lie close to a critical state, thereby producing a diverse population that is able to respond rapidly to environmental changes. We propose an information-theoretic interpretation of these results that views cellular multipotency as an instance of maximum entropy statistical inference.