Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

136 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter

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

3.3.6 Mitchel vs. Williams Protons

As is evident from Figure 3.29, the conformon model of oxphos postu-

lates the existence of two kinds of protons participating in the energy

coupling processes in mitochondria: (i) intra-membrane protons (to be

denoted as i-protons or i-H+) mediating conformon transfer from one

enzyme system to another (see steps 2 and 4) and (ii) trans-membrane

protons (to be denoted as t- protons or t-H+) whose movement is driven

by the conformon symbolized as * in PTC (see step 3). Since t-protons

were first invoked by Mitchell in formulating his chemiosmotic model of

oxphos [138–141], it is referred to as the t-protons are referred to as

Mitchell protons, and, similarly, since it was R. J. P William who first

advocated the role of i-protons as a theoretically more sound way of cou-

pling redox reactions and phosphorylation reaction than the t-protons

[176, 209], the i-protons are referred to as the Williams protons. It is pos-

sible that a given proton can act either as a t-H+ or as an i-H+ at different

phases of a reaction cycle.

Figure 3.37 The torsional force (or torque) generating mechanism in the F 0 F 1 –ATP

synthase proposed by of Nath et al. [214, 215]. a = the a subunit of the F 0 portion of

the F 1 F 0 –ATPase; b = the b subunit; c = the c subunits of which there are 12 in

E. coli F 0.

C1-12

C1-12

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