Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

A call for a better understanding of causation in cell biology

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 20, pages 261–262 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 18 April 2019

This article has been updated

What does it mean to say that event X caused outcome Y in biology? Explaining the causal structure underlying the dynamic function of living systems is a central goal of biology. Transformative advances in regenerative medicine and synthetic bioengineering will require efficient strategies to cause desired system-level outcomes. We present a perspective on the need to move beyond the classical ‘necessary and sufficient’ approach to biological causality.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Change history

  • 18 April 2019

    In the above article, the name of the first author was spelled incorrectly. This has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

References

  1. Zagorski, M. et al. Decoding of position in the developing neural tube from antiparallel morphogen gradients. Science 356, 1379–1383 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Bizzarri, M. et al. Gravity constraints drive biological systems toward specific organization patterns: commitment of cell specification is constrained by physical cues. Bioessays 40, 1700138 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Pezzulo, G. & Levin, M. Re-membering the body: applications of computational neuroscience to the top-down control of regeneration of limbs and other complex organs. Integr. Biol. 7, 1487–1517 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Grieneisen, V. A. et al. Morphogengineering roots: comparing mechanisms of morphogen gradient formation. BMC Syst. Biol. 6, 37 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Hoel, E. P., Albantakis, L. & Tononi, G. Quantifying causal emergence shows that macro can beat micro. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 19790–19795 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

M.L. gratefully acknowledges support by an Allen Discovery Center Award from the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group (12171) and the Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF0089/AB55).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Medicine, University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy

    Mariano Bizzarri

  2. Departments of Therapeutic Radiology and Dermatology and Yale Cancer Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Douglas E. Brash

  3. The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK

    James Briscoe

  4. School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Verônica A. Grieneisen

  5. Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, UK

    Claudio D. Stern

  6. Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA

    Michael Levin

Authors
  1. Mariano Bizzarri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Douglas E. Brash
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. James Briscoe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Verônica A. Grieneisen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Claudio D. Stern
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Michael Levin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Levin.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bizzarri, M., Brash, D.E., Briscoe, J. et al. A call for a better understanding of causation in cell biology. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 20, 261–262 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-019-0127-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-019-0127-1

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing