Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

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

two original horizontal salt bridges are restored. All these coordinated

charge–charge interactions are postulated to be driven by the conforma-

tional changes of the transprotonase, just as the coordinated electron flow

through ETCs are most likely driven by evolutionarily selected sets of

conformational transitions of ETCs.

The phenomenon of respiratory control in mitochondria [129,

p. 552] refers to the abrupt increase in the rate of oxygen uptake by a

mitochondrial suspension upon adding ADP, causing the so-called state 4

to state 3 transition as shown in Figure 3.7(a). One possible mechanism of

the respiratory control is suggested in Figure 3.7(b) on the basis of the

electromechanochemical energy transduction concept. The low rate of

respiration at state 4 is attributed to the stabilization of the self-limiting

charge-separating state of the ETC by the complementarily polarized ATP

synthase shown in state B in Figure 3.7(b). However, when ADP is added

in the presence of Pi, these ligands may bind to the b-subunits of the F 0 F 1 –

ATP synthase, causing the conformational relaxations that lower the acti-

vation free energy for the depolarization of the supermolecule, i.e., the

oxphosome, the functional unit combining ETC and ATP synthase (see

Figure 3.4(a)) as indicated by the difference in the heights between the

solid and dotted lines in Figure 3.7(b), leading to an increase in the rate of

respiration in State 3. When all the ADP is phosphorylated, the respiration

rate returns to that of State 4, i.e., the state before adding ADP.

3.2.4 The Wave–Particle Duality in the Living Cell

In Chapter 8, the evidence will be presented that justifies introducing the

principle of wave–particle duality to cell biology. One consequence of

this move is that we can view the living cell not only as a system of par-

ticles such as DNA, RNA, proteins, and small-molecular-weight chemi-

cals such as ATP, glucose, and metal ions, but also as a dynamic system

of interacting concentration waves of diffusible particles (e.g., ATP),

mechanical waves (e.g., conformational waves of Noji shown in Figure 3.12),

and electromagnetic waves of oscillating or vibrating molecules (e.g.,

nucleotides in DNA or amino acid residues in proteins). Many properties

of the cell that cannot be readily accounted for in terms of particle–

particle interactions alone may now be explained using the well-known

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