We make rigorous the notion of universality in well-mixed stochastic models of biochemical feedback , namely that they scale near their bifurcation point according to the exponents of the mean-field Ising universality class. In doing so, we derive a mapping of the biochemical parameters to an effective temperature, magnetic field, order parameter, and heat capacity . These effective thermodynamic quantities can be extracted from biological data without fitting or knowledge of the underlying molecular details. We demonstrate this procedure on fluorescence data from mouse T cells and interpret the findings. In the process, we discover an unanticipated result: the heat capacity allows inference of absolute molecule number from fluorescence intensity. We explain this result in terms of the underlying fluctuations and demonstrate the generality of our work.
We map a class of well-mixed stochastic models of biochemical feedback in steady state to the mean-field Ising model near the critical point. The mapping provides an effective temperature, magnetic field, order parameter, and heat capacity that can be extracted from biological data without fitting or knowledge of the underlying molecular details. We demonstrate this procedure on fluorescence data from mouse T cells , which reveals distinctions between how the cells respond to different drugs. We also show that the heat capacity allows inference of absolute molecule number from fluorescence intensity. We explain this result in terms of the underlying fluctuations and demonstrate the generality of our work.
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make rigorous the notion of universality in
map a class of
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, namely that they scale near their bifurcation point according to the exponents of the
in steady state to the
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universality class. In doing so, we derive a mapping of the biochemical parameters to
model near the critical point. The mapping provides
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. These effective thermodynamic quantities
that
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and interpret the findings. In the process, we discover an unanticipated result:
, which reveals distinctions between how the cells respond to different drugs. We also show that