Design Principles of Cellular Networks

What makes biological systems distinct from inanimate systems? One peculiarity of life is the realization of contradictory features such as stability and flexibility. In this colloquium, we introduce a cellular network, pancreatic islet, that is responsible for energy homeostasis in the body, and talk about one special contradiction in the system. In humans, the pancreas has about millions of islets, each of which consists of alpha, beta, and delta cells. The numerous islets can be synchronized to produce coherent hormone pulses at low/high energy states, while they can be desynchronized to hide unnecessary hormone pulses at normal energy states. We discuss how the nature can engineer both synchronization and desynchronization by using symmetrical communications between the three endocrine cells.