Multiple Model Systems and Representation of Biological Phenomena
Main Article Content
Abstract
Biologists often study certain biological systems as models of a phenomenon of interest even if they already know that the phenomenon occurs through diverse mechanisms and hence none of those systems can sufficiently represent it by itself. To understand this modeling practice, the present paper provides an account of how multiple model systems can be used to study a phenomenon whose underlying mechanisms are diverse. Even if generalizability of results from a single model system is significantly limited, generalizations concerning particular aspects of mechanisms often hold across certain ranges of biological systems, which enables multiple model systems to jointly represent such a phenomenon. Comparing mechanisms that operate in different biological systems as examples of the same phenomenon also facilitates characterization and investigation of individual mechanisms. I also compare my account with two existing accounts of the use of multiple model systems and argue that my account is distinct from and complementary to them.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
References
Ankeny, Rachel A. 2007. “Wormy Logic: Model Organisms as Case-Based Reasoning.” In Science without Laws: Model Systems, Cases, Exemplary Narratives, edited by Angela N H Creager, Elizabeth Lunbeck, and M Norton Wise, 46–58. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Ankeny, Rachel A, and Sabina Leonelli. 2011. “What’s so Special about Model Organisms?” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 42: 313–23.
Ankeny, Rachel A, and Sabina Leonelli. 2020. Model Organisms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Baetu, Tudor M. 2014. “Models and the Mosaic of Scientific Knowledge. The Case of Immunology.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 45: 49–56.
Baetu, Tudor M. 2016. “The ‘Big Picture’: The Problem of Extrapolation in Basic Research.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 67: 941–64.
Bechtel, William. 2009. “Generalization and Discovery by Assuming Conserved Mechanisms: Cross-Species Research on Circadian Oscillators.” Philosophy of Science 76 (5): 762–73.
Bechtel, William, and Adele Abrahamsen. 2005. “Explanation: A Mechanist Alternative.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 36: 421–41.
Bolker, Jessica A. 2009. “Exemplary and Surrogate Models: Two Modes of Representation in Biology.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 52 (4): 485–99.
Burian, Richard M. 1993. “How the Choice of Experimental Organism Matters: Epistemological Reflections on an Aspect of Biological Practice.” Journal of the History of Biology 26 (2): 351–67.
Craver, Carl F. 2004. “Dissociable Realization and Kind Splitting.” Philosophy of Science 71: 960–71.
Craver, Carl F, and Lindley Darden. 2013. In Search of Mechanisms: Discoveries across the Life Sciences. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Davidson, Lance A, Michelangelo von Dassow, and Jian Zhou. 2009. “Multi-Scale Mechanics from Molecules to Morphogenesis.” International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology 41: 2147–62.
Davies, Jamie A. 2013. Mechanisms of Morphogenesis. 2nd edn. London: Academic Press.
Dietrich, Michael R, Rachel A Ankeny, Nathan Crowe, Sara Green, and Sabina Leonelli. 2019. “How to Choose Your Research Organism.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 1–13.
Fagan, Melinda Bonnie. 2016. “Generative Models: Human Embryonic Stem Cells and Multiple Modeling Relations.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 56: 122–34.
Friedl, Peter, and Darren Gilmour. 2009. “Collective Cell Migration in Morphogenesis, Regeneration and Cancer.” Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 10: 445–57.
Gerhardt, Holger, Matthew Golding, Marcus Fruttiger, Christiana Ruhrberg, Andrea Lundkvist, Alexandra Abramsson, Michael Jeltsch, et al. 2003. “VEGF Guides Angiogenic Sprouting Utilizing Endothelial Tip Cell Filopodia.” Journal of Cell Biology 161 (6): 1163–77.
Halina, Marta. 2018. “Mechanistic Explanation and Its Limits.” In The Routledge Handbook of Mechanisms and Mechanical Philosophy, edited by Stuart S Glennan and Phyllis Illari, 213–24. New York: Routledge.
Hodgkin, Alan L, and Andrew F Huxley. 1952. “A Quantitative Description of Membrane Current and Its Application to Conduction and Excitation in Nerve.” The Journal of Physiology 117: 500–544.
Huebner, Robert J, and Andrew J Ewald. 2014. “Cellular Foundations of Mammary Tubulogenesis.” Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology 31: 124–31.
Khalil, Antoine A, and Peter Friedl. 2010. “Determinants of Leader Cells in Collective Cell Migration.” Integrative Biology 2: 568–74.
Levy, Arnon, and William Bechtel. 2013. “Abstraction and the Organization of Mechanisms.” Philosophy of Science 80: 241–61.
Levy, Arnon, and Adrian Currie. 2015. “Model Organisms Are Not (Theoretical) Models.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 66: 327–48.
Love, Alan C. 2010. “Idealization in Evolutionary Developmental Investigation: A Tension between Phenotypic Plasticity and Normal Stages.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 365: 679–90.
Love, Alan C. 2014. “The Erotetic Organization of Developmental Biology.” In Towards a Theory of Development, edited by Alessandro Minelli and Thomas Pradeu, 33–55. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mayor, Roberto, and Sandrine Etienne-Manneville. 2016. “The Front and Rear of Collective Cell Migration.” Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 17: 97–109.
Mishra, Abhinava K, Joseph P Campanale, James A Mondo, and Denise J Montell. 2019. “Cell Interactions in Collective Cell Migration.” Development 146: 1–7.
Montell, Denise J. 2003. “Border-Cell Migration: The Race Is On.” Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 4: 13–24.
Norden, Caren, and Virginie Lecaudey. 2019. “Collective Cell Migration: General Themes and New Paradigms.” Current Opinion in Genetics and Development 57: 54–60.
Olson, Hannah M, and Alex V Nechiporuk. 2018. “Using Zebrafish to Study Collective Cell Migration in Development and Disease.” Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology 6: 1–15.
Prasad, Mohit, Xiaobo Wnag, Li He, and Denise J Montell. 2011. “Border Cell Migration: A Model System for Live Imaging and Genetic Analysis of Collective Cell Movement.” In Cell Migration: Developmental Methods and Protocols, 277–86.
Rørth, Pernille. 2009. “Collective Cell Migration.” Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology 25: 407–29.
Scarpa, Elena, and Roberto Mayor. 2016. “Collective Cell Migration in Development.” Journal of Cell Biology 212 (2): 143–55.
Shellard, Adam, and Roberto Mayor. 2020. “Rules of Collective Migration: From the Wildebeest to the Neural Crest.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 375 (1807): 1–9.
Siekmann, Arndt F, and Nathan D Lawson. 2007. “Notch Signalling Limits Angiogenic Cell Behaviour in Developing Zebrafish Arteries.” Nature 445: 781–84.
Spurlin, James W, and Celeste M Nelson. 2017. “Building Branched Tissue Structures: From Single Cell Guidance to Coordinated Construction.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 372: 1–15.
Stuelten, Christina H, Carole A Parent, and Denise J Montell. 2018. “Cell Motility in Cancer Invasion and Metastasis: Insights from Simple Model Organisms.” Nature Reviews Cancer 18: 296–312.
Theveneau, Eric, and Roberto Mayor. 2011. “Can Mesenchymal Cells Undergo Collective Cell Migration? The Case of the Neural Crest.” Cell Adhesion and Migration 5 (6): 490–98.
Theveneau, Eric, Benjamin Steventon, Elena Scarpa, Simon Garcia, Xavier Trepat, Andrea Streit, and Roberto Mayor. 2013. “Chase-and-Run between Adjacent Cell Populations Promotes Directional Collective Migration.” Nature Cell Biology 15 (7): 763–72.
Varner, Victor D, and Celeste M Nelson. 2014. “Cellular and Physical Mechanisms of Branching Morphogenesis.” Development 141: 2750–59.
Yoshida, Yoshinari. 2021. “Multiple-Models Juxtaposition and Trade-Offs among Modeling Desiderata.” Philosophy of Science 88: 1-21.