Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

120 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter

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

the free energy released from the redox reaction lowers the free

energy level of the system below the transition state, b. The net result

of the transition, a → c, is that a part of the free energy of the exer-

gonic chemical reaction is transduced to the EMC free energy of the

conformationally strained enzyme system in state c. In other words,

ETC has catalyzed the transduction of the chemical energy of sub-

strates to the EMC potential energy of the conformationally strained

enzyme system, i.e., conformons. Conformationally strained ETC

can relax in two ways: (i) electroneutrally, c → a or (ii) electrogeni-

cally, c → d, depending on whether or not there is any net charge

translocation in the interior of the enzyme system during the relaxa-

tion process. In the former process, the conformon energy is recon-

verted into the chemical energy of the substrates, whereas in the latter

process, the conformon energy is converted into the electrostatic

energy of separated charges in State d transiently, through Brownian

motions, the difference between the free energy levels of States c and

d originating from the thermal environment. Almost identical set of

molecular processes is depicted in Figure 3.30(b), except that the

transition between states c and d in Figure 3.30(a) is explicitly indi-

cated in Figure 30(b) (see the last state).

There are two possible mechanisms for the electrogenic relaxation of

the conformational strains induced by charge separation in state c — the

electrogenic relaxation with or without complementary charge flow in the

environment of the enzyme system. The electrogenic relaxation without

complementary charge flows results in the membrane potential, whereas

the electrogenic relaxation with complementary charge flow will not gen-

erate any membrane potential.

There are three key steps underlying the conformon-mediated energy

coupling processes: (i) conformon production, (ii) conformon transfer,

and (iii) conformon utilization. The molecular mechanisms underlying

processes (i) and (iii) are detailed in Figure 3.30(a) in the a → c transition

and the c → d transition, respectively. One possible mechanism for trans-

ferring conformons from one enzyme system to another is proposed in

Figure 3.31. The “conformon transfer mechanism” (CTM) detailed in

Figure 3.31 states that

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