Complex physical properties of an adaptive, self-organizing biological system

TL;DR

This paper presents a statistical thermodynamics model of the adaptive immune system, describing it as a self-organizing, scale-free network that maintains its function through thermodynamic and network interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a configuration space model linking thermodynamics and network theory to explain immune system self-organization and adaptability.

Findings

The immune system forms a scale-free, fractal interaction network.

Chemical potentials are tuned to maintain system stability and diversity.

The model is validated by identifying an interaction flexibility index.

Abstract

The physical interpretation of the functioning of the adaptive immune system, which has been thoroughly characterized on genetic and molecular levels, provides a unique opportunity to define an adaptive self-organizing biological system in its entirety. This paper describes a configuration space model of immune function, where directed chemical potentials of the system constitute a space of interactions. In the physical sense, the humoral adaptive immune system adjusts the chemical potential of all available antigenic molecules by tuning the chemical potential and organizing the network hierarchy of its sensor-effector molecules, antibodies. The coupling of sensors and effectors allows the system to adjust the thermodynamic activity of antigens and antibodies, while network organization helps minimize chemical potentials and maximize diversity. Mathematically the system couples the variance of Gaussian distributed interaction energies in its interaction space to the exponentially distributed chemical potentials of its effector molecules to maintain its stationary state. This process creates a scale-free network in interaction space, where absolute thermodynamic activity corresponds to node degree. In the thermodynamic interpretation, the system is an ensemble carrying out {mu}N work, adjusting chemical potentials according to the changes in the chemical potentials of the surroundings. The validity of the model is supported by identifying an interaction flexibility index, the corresponding variables in thermodynamics and network science, and by confirming its applicability to the humoral immune system. Overall, this statistical thermodynamics model of adaptive immunity describes how adaptive biological self-organization arises from the maintenance of a scale-free, directed interaction network with fractal topology.