Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

130 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter

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

(3) It is now generally accepted that, when ATP synthase catalyzes the

formation of ATP from ADP and Pi, driven by the proton gradient

(regardless of whether the proton gradient is transmembrane as

assumed by the chemiosmotic model as depicted in Figure 3.32 or

intramembrane as assumed by the conformon model as depicted in

step 4 of Figure 3.29), the potential energy of the proton gradient is

first converted into the mechanical energy stored in F 0 [151, 161, 177,

211], which is then transferred to the g-subunit causing it to rotate,

leading to the rotary conformational wave propagation in F 1 resulting

in ATP synthesis followed by its expulsion from F 1 (see the figure on

the upper right-hand corner of Figure 3.35). Thus, the sequence of

events involved in the proton gradient-driven synthesis of ATP can

now be described as follows as proposed in [8, 210]:

1

(Proton gradient) ↔ (Mechanical energy of the g- and e-subunits)

↔ 2

(Chemical energy of ATP) (3.39)

Reaction (3.39) is known to be reversible (as indicated by the double

arrows) so that protons can be pumped across the mitochondrial inner

membrane (producing osmotic energy) using the chemical energy of ATP

hydrolysis. On the phenomenological level, therefore, the concept of che-

miosmotic coupling proposed by Mitchell may appear validated since

chemical and osmotic energies are indeed interconvertible. But this way of

looking at the problem is superficial. The heart of the problem concerns

not so much whether or not the process of chemiosmosis can occur in

mitochondria (which was known to occur in the organelle long before

1960 when the Mitchell hypothesis was formulated) but exactly how such

a process can occur on the molecular level. In other words, we must dis-

tinguish between the phenomenon of chemiosmosis and the molecular

mechanisms underlying chemiosmosis. On the phenomenological level,

the Mitchell hypothesis cannot be faulted. But it is on the level of molecu-

lar mechanisms underlying chemiosmosis that the Mitchell hypothesis

fails, as I have been pointing out over the last three decades [14, pp. 34–35;

7, pp. 60–61; 25, pp. 383–388] (see also [151, 161, 177, 209]).

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