Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

132 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter

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

biology have been citing the chemiosmosis as the sole mechanism of cou-

pling respiration to phosphorylation in mitochondria. For example, see

[213] reproduced in Figure 3.34(a).

The new experimental data that have emerged during the last two

decades in terms of the high-resolution X-ray structure of the F 1 F 0 –ATP

synthase and ETCs I, III, and IV make it necessary to re-evaluate the

basic premises underlying the chemiosmotic model of oxphos, in

agreement with recent criticism against the Mitchell model voiced by

Nath [151, 177]. One way to bring together these new developments

in the field of mitochondrial bioenergetics is shown in Figure 3.35.

The formulation of the new mechanism of oxphos presented in this

figure incorporates the experimental findings reported mainly by three

groups:

(i) the group in Helsinki headed by M. Wikstrὃm whose extensive work

on the proton-translocating cytochrome c oxidase dates back to the

early 1970s [241],

(ii) the group in Rochester led by A. Senior whose work on the structure

of the ATP synthase or Complex V also goes back to the early 1970s

[242], and

(iii) the group in Tokyo headed by H. Noji who demonstrated the rotary

motion of the g-subunit in 2001 [205] and the rotational propagation

of the conformational waves in the a 3 b 3 hexamer of the F 1 -subunit in

2011 [85].

It is for this reason that I elected to name the mechanism of oxphos

shown in Figure 3.35 the Rochester–Noji–Helsinki (RoNoH) mechanism.

(In passing, I should point out that I originally named the mechanism the

Senior−Noji–Wikstrὃm (SNoW) mechanism but had to change it to

RoNoH to comply with the wishes of the two of the three investigators

named above.)

What is prominently shown in Figure 3.35 is the rotary motion of the

conformational waves through the b-subunits but not the underlying

rotary motions of the g-subunit which is ultimately coupled to the flow

of protons through the F 0 -subunit. One possible mechanism for the hid-

den rotary motions of the g-subunit driven by the proton flow through the

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