Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

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synthase (now called the F 1 F 0 –ATP synthase; see the upper right-hand cor-

ner of Figure 3.35), respectively, that are separated in space by more than

50 Å center to center, the thickness of the membrane (see Figures 3.4(a)).

The conformon was defined as

Sequence-specific conformational strains of biopolymers that drive

goal-directed molecular motions in living cells. (3.47)

Given the conformon, it is possible to account for not only oxidative

phosphorylation and other energy-coupled processes in mitochondria

such as energized transhydrogenation (see Table 3.5) and active transport

(see step 3 in Figure 3.29), but also muscle contraction, a membrane-

independent bioenergetic process (see Figures 3.48 and 3.49), to which

chemiosmotic model cannot be applied.

3.4.1 Direct Experimental Evidence for Conformons or

Conformational Waves

Probably the strongest experimental evidence, yet to emerge that supports

the concept of conformons, or conformational wave packets, is provided

by the observation of the rotary motion of conformational waves around

the a 3 b 3 hexamer of the F 1 F 0 –ATP synthase measured by Uchihashi et al.

using a high-speed atomic force microscopic technique as shown in

Figure 3.12(g)) [85]. As the next direct evidence, I would cite the demon-

stration by Noji et al. [205] of the ATP-driven rotation of the g-subunit of

the F 1 F 0 –ATP synthase described in Figure 3.41.

3.4.2 DNA Supercoils, the White Formula, and Conformons

The idea that biological properties of enzymes may depend on the

mechanical (i.e., conformational) energy stored in proteins was first enter-

tained by R. Lumry and others as early as the 1950s [219–221] (reviewed

in [6, 65]). As explained in Table 3.16, it is important to distinguish

between “conformation” and “configuration”, since

It is “conformation” and not “configuration” of biopolymers that can

store mechanical energy as conformons. (3.48)

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