In this review I show that four major kinds of theoretical approaches have been used to
explain the scaling of metabolic rate in cells, organisms and groups of organisms in relation …

Highlights•Efficiency of host colonization depends on microbe–microbe interactions.•
Eukaryotic symbionts induce biofilm formation.•Generalist communities depend on …

Developing predictive models of multi‐protein genetic systems to understand and optimize
their behavior remains a combinatorial challenge, particularly when measurement …

Predicting evolution is a fundamental problem in biology with practical implications for
treating antimicrobial resistance, which is a complex system-level phenomenon. In this …

Regulatory networks play a central role in the relationship between genotype and
phenotype in all organisms. However, the mechanisms that underpin the evolutionary …

Cells adapt to changing environments. Perturb a cell and it returns to a point of homeostasis.
Perturb a population and it evolves toward a fitness peak. We review quantitative models of …

Background Optimality principles have been used to explain the structure and behavior of
living matter at different levels of organization, from basic phenomena at the molecular level …

Motivation Optimality principles have been used to explain many biological processes and
systems. However, the functions being optimized are in general unknown a priori. Here we …

Advances in biology are occurring at a breathtaking pace today, from genetic insights
facilitated by the Human Genome Project and next generation DNA sequencing …

Combating the evolution of widespread antibiotic resistance is one of the most pressing
challenges facing modern medicine. Recent research has demonstrated that the evolution of …