Ubiquity of Log-normal Distributions in Intra-cellular Reaction Dynamic

TL;DR

This paper reveals that cellular chemical abundances follow a log-normal distribution and that their mean and variability are linearly related, supported by theoretical models and bacterial experiments, highlighting fundamental cellular dynamics.

Contribution

It demonstrates the universal presence of log-normal distributions in intra-cellular reactions through theoretical modeling and experimental validation.

Findings

Chemical abundances are log-normal distributed across cells.

A linear relationship exists between mean and standard deviation of abundances.

Log-normal distribution is confirmed in bacterial protein levels.

Abstract

The discovery of two fundamental laws concerning cellular dynamics with recursive growth is reported. First, the chemical abundances measured over many cells are found to obey a log-normal distribution and second, the relationship between the average and standard deviation of the abundances is found to be linear. The ubiquity of the laws is explored both theoretically and experimentally. First by means of a model with a catalytic reaction network, the laws are shown to appear near the critical state with efficient self-reproduction. Second by measuring distributions of fluorescent proteins in bacteria cells the ubiquity of log-normal distribution of protein abundances is confirmed. Relevance of these findings to cellular function and biological plasticity is briefly discussed.