New model predicts how temperature affects life from quantum to classical scales

The temperature is a critical factor in every biological process. It is true of the very small, the very large, and every scale in between.

The general theory of how life depends on temperature has been missing for a long time. In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers introduce a framework that rigorously predicts how temperature affects living things.

SFI External Professor Pablo Marquet says that it's very important. The model was worked on by Marquet. This can be applied to every process that is affected by temperature. It will be a landmark contribution.

A theory like this could help researchers make accurate predictions in a number of areas, including the spread of infectious diseases, and food production.

The "big picture" implications of the new model have been missing from previous attempts to generalize the effects of temperature. The Arrhenius equation is used by biologists and ecologists to explain how temperature affects chemical reactions. It's possible to approximate how temperature affects some biological processes, but it can't account for many others.

A general mathematical model to predict the behavior of any variable in biology was the initial goal of the project. He realized that the temperature could be used to develop a new model. With a few additions and assumptions, he extended the model from the quantum-molecular level to larger, macroscopic scales.

The model combines elements that weren't present in previous attempts. It is derived from first principles. The model is based on a simple equation with a few parameters. Existing models need a lot of assumptions. He says that it can explain patterns and behaviors for any taxa in any environment. The temperature responses for different processes collapse into the same form.

"I think that our ability to systematize temperature response has the potential to reveal novel unification in biological processes in order to resolve a variety of controversies," says SFI Professor Chris Kempes.

The new model that was described in the PNAS paper is related to empirical observations of many phenomena, including the growth rate of a bacterium, the mortality rate of a fruit fly, and the rate of an insect's metabolism.

Many of the predictions that were planned for the first publication will be derived from this model. He says the paper was too large.

More information: José Ignacio Arroyo et al, A general theory for temperature dependence in biology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2119872119 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences