Lesne Annick
Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, 35 route de Chartres, 91440 Bures-sur-Yvette, France.
Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2008 Nov;83(4):509-32. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-185X.2008.00052.x. Epub 2008 Sep 24.
The term robustness is encountered in very different scientific fields, from engineering and control theory to dynamical systems to biology. The main question addressed herein is whether the notion of robustness and its correlates (stability, resilience, self-organisation) developed in physics are relevant to biology, or whether specific extensions and novel frameworks are required to account for the robustness properties of living systems. To clarify this issue, the different meanings covered by this unique term are discussed; it is argued that they crucially depend on the kind of perturbations that a robust system should by definition withstand. Possible mechanisms underlying robust behaviours are examined, either encountered in all natural systems (symmetries, conservation laws, dynamic stability) or specific to biological systems (feedbacks and regulatory networks). Special attention is devoted to the (sometimes counterintuitive) interrelations between robustness and noise. A distinction between dynamic selection and natural selection in the establishment of a robust behaviour is underlined. It is finally argued that nested notions of robustness, relevant to different time scales and different levels of organisation, allow one to reconcile the seemingly contradictory requirements for robustness and adaptability in living systems.
“稳健性”这一术语出现在非常不同的科学领域，从工程学和控制理论到动力系统再到生物学。本文探讨的主要问题是，物理学中发展起来的稳健性概念及其相关概念（稳定性、恢复力、自组织）是否与生物学相关，或者是否需要特定的扩展和新的框架来解释生命系统的稳健性特性。为了阐明这个问题，讨论了这个独特术语所涵盖的不同含义；有人认为，它们关键取决于稳健系统根据定义应能承受的扰动类型。研究了稳健行为背后的可能机制，这些机制要么在所有自然系统中都能遇到（对称性、守恒定律、动态稳定性），要么是生物系统特有的（反馈和调节网络）。特别关注稳健性与噪声之间（有时违反直觉）的相互关系。强调了在建立稳健行为过程中动态选择和自然选择之间的区别。最后有人认为，与不同时间尺度和不同组织层次相关的嵌套式稳健性概念，能够使人们调和生命系统中对稳健性和适应性看似矛盾的要求。
