Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

88 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter

b2861 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter “6x9”

Figure 3.18 The postulated existence of the electron-, proton-, and phosphoron-transfer

complexes in the mitochondrial inner membrane. The mono-negatively charged phos-

phoryl group, i.e., PO 3 - , was named the phosphoron in 1976 [8]. PTC is also called the

transprotonase [144], in analogy to the well-known transhydrogenase. Adopted from [8].

ETC = electron-transfer complex; PTC = proton-transfer complex; OSA = oligomycin-

sensitive ATPase, equivalent to the F 0 F 1 –ATPase/synthase [242]. The combination of ETC,

PTC, and OSA depicted here can be viewed as an abstract version of the supermolecule

shown in Figure 3.4(a) or the oxphosome defined in Table 3.5.

ETC PTC OSA

ε– H+ H+ φ–

(see Figure 3.29, Step 4), will be referred to as the second-order pseudolink-

age, in analogy to the first-order and second-order kinetics in chemistry. It

is possible that in mitochondrial inner membrane, a third-order pseudolink-

age is common, e.g., among ETC, PTC, and OSA mediated by intramem-

brane protons of Williams (see Section 3.3.6) (as opposed to the Mitchell’s

protons in the extramembrane bulk phases) as schematically depicted in

Figure 3.18. In ETC, the electron and the proton are truly linked; in PTC,

there are postulated to be at least two truly linked proton binding sites (e.g.,

aspartate, glutamate); and, in OSC, protons and phosphorons are thought to

be truly linked in such a way that when the amount of protons in PTC is kept

constant, ETC and OSA become pseudolinked, so that respiration can drive

the synthesis of ATP. When the intramembrane protons (referred on top as

the Williams protons, see Section 3.3.6) equilibrate with bulk phase protons

due to lipid-soluble anions such as dinitrophenol, the amount of the intram-

embrane protons becomes variable (depending on the extramembrane con-

centrations) while their chemical activity remains constant, thereby breaking

down the pseudolinkage and resulting in uncoupling.

The best known example of the true linkage is the Bohr effect in

hemoglobin [168] as described in Figure 3.16, where O 2 and H+ are the

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