Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

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

truly linked ligands. An example of the pseudolinkage is provided by the

hypothetical coupling between electron flow through the ETC and the

flow (from Pi to ADP) of the phosphoryl group (i.e., the phosphoron

denoted as j–) postulated to occur in the F 1 portion of the ATP synthase

during oxidative phosphorylation which is schematically shown in

Figure 3.18. In other words, the coupling between the electron flow in

ETC and the phosphoron flow in F 1 is possible if and only if the amount

of protons in PTC remains constant in its amount and does not equilibrate

with protons in the extramembrane bulk phase. Once the intramembrane

protons in PTC equilibrate with the bulk phase, the pseudolinkage breaks

down (according to the pseudolinkage theory of Wyman [175]) and hence

no coupling between respiration and ATP synthesis occurs. If the pseu-

dolinkage mechanism of Wyman is indeed responsible for the electron–

phosphoron coupling in mitochondria, it would justify the criticisms of

Williams [176] and Nath [151, 161, 177] directed toward the basic theo-

retical foundation of the chemiosmotic hypothesis of Mitchell [140, 141].

Wyman’s pseudolinkage theory allows us to distinguish between two

kinds of protons: (i) the Williams protons (or W-protons) whose movement

is confined or localized within the intramembrane phase or space, as origi-

nally conceived by Williams [176] and (ii) the Mitchell protons (or

M-protons) that are delocalized in the extramembrane bulk phase as first

invoked by Mitchell in 1961 [140, 141]. Figure 3.18 shows only the

W-protons, and the M-protons are not shown. However, it is assumed that the

movement of the W-protons in PTC can drive the transport of n M-protons

through PTC, from the matrix (or the N, negative) side to the intermembrane

space (or the P, positive side), if PTC functions in its proton-pumping mode

(as in Steps 3 in Figure 3.29) rather than as the intramembrane proton-

transfer mode (as in Steps 4 in Figure 3.29), where n can vary from 0 (or

even a negative number, if the W-proton allosterically alters the pKa of criti-

cal amino acid residues in PTC) to 2 per Williams proton (see [151]).

The concept of the phosphoron [6] was invoked in analogy to the

electron:

The phosphoron is to the phosphate current of Lipmann (Figure 3.19)

what the electron is to the electric current. (3.17)

According to Wikstrὃm and his group in Helsinki [118, 119], there are

two pathways of proton movement in cytochrome c oxidase referred to as

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