QUANTITATIVE MODELING AND BIOLOGY - THE MULTIVARIATE APPROACH
QUANTITATIVE MODELING AND BIOLOGY - THE MULTIVARIATE APPROACH
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DOI：
10.1152/ajpregu.1994.266.5.r1697
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发表时间：
1994-05-01
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
GIULIANI, A
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
BENIGNI, R;GIULIANI, A
尽管生物学问题的数学建模有很好的例子，但这样的方法仍然超出了大多数生物学家的领域。为了在生物学中更广泛、更系统地使用数学模型，应研究和选择适用于定义水平有限的现象的软建模方法。特别是，多变量数据分析(MDA)被认为是实现这一目标的重要工具。本文回顾了MDA的一般原理，并详细研究了主成分分析和聚类分析这两种最重要的MDA技术。给出了一些在实际生物学问题中的应用。这些例子表明，分类的构建如何对应于新知识和新概念的产生，这些新知识和新概念在层级上高于初始信息。这种新的知识形式是在数据上不叠加先验理论的情况下获得的。它演示了MDA如何导致生物系统的识别；还显示了它们描述多尺度现象的能力，这是生物系统的典型特征。此外，多变量分析为给定的生物系统提供了新的描述符；这些描述符是定量的，从而使系统能够在“公制空间”中被描述，在那里可以使用任何其他数学工具。
Even though elegant examples of mathematical modeling of biological problems exist, such approaches still remain outside the domain of most biologists. It is proposed that, for a wider and more systematic use of mathematical models in biology, the soft modeling approaches, which are applicable to phenomena with a limited level of definition, should be investigated and preferred. In particular, multivariate data analysis (MDA) is indicated as an important tool toward fulfilling this goal. This paper reviews the general principles of MDA and examines in detail principal component analysis and cluster analysis, which are two of the most important MDA techniques. A number of applications to real biological problems are presented. These examples show how the construction of classifications corresponds to the generation of new knowledge and new concepts, which are hierarchically on a higher level than the initial information. This new form of knowledge is obtained without superimposing a priori theories on the data. It is demonstrated how the MDA can lead to the identification of biological systems; also shown is their ability to describe multiple scale phenomena, a typical feature of biological systems. Moreover, the multivariate analyses provide new descriptors for a given biological system; these descriptors are quantitative, thus allowing the system to be described in a ''metric space,'' where it then becomes possible to use any other mathematical tool.