Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

Cell Language 185

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

So, in Table 4.4, the formula is applied to DNA, protein, and metabolic

pathway systems.

If the analogy between human language and cell language drawn in

Table 4.5 is valid, it may be concluded that the double articulation evident

in cell language probably have evolved to maximize the capacity of

molecular messages to carry information, just as is the case with human

language.

Using the approximate numerical values for the three parameters of

Eq. (4.18), it should be possible to estimate the maximum average amount

of the information carried by the sentence analogues of the molecular

languages at the levels of DNA, proteins, and metabolic networks in the

living cell.

4.4 Isomorphism Between Cell and Human Languages

Human and cell languages obey a common set of semiotic principles,

including double articulation, the energy requirement of information

transduction, storage, and transmission [19, 22]. Human language can be

defined as a system of signs obeying a set of rules that enables humans to

communicate with one another. In other words, human language is a nec-

essary condition for human communication. Similarly, there must be a

language unique to living cells in multicellular [19–23] as well as unicel-

lular [251] organisms, since cells too must communicate among them-

selves in order to survive by carrying out their specialized biological

activities in a coordinated manner (see Figure 4.4).

Table 4.4 An application of the simplified Shannon’s formula to biological information

processes.

Alphabet Letters (a)

Word Length in

Letters (b)

Sentence Length in

Words (c)

English 26 ~ 10 ~ 10

DNA Nucleotide triplets ~ 60 Genes ~ 100 Genetic network ~ 10

Protein Amino acids 20 Polypeptides ~ 100 Protein complexes 10–100

Metabolic

network

Metabolons 10–100? Metabolic pathways

10–100?

Cells 10–100?

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