Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Cosic [1] discussed the potential for vibrational signaling in proteins. Conrad
[3] described the quantum level by elaborating the notion of vertical information
processing in biological systems.
Welch [23] considered an analogue field model of the metabolic state of a
cell based on ideas from quantum field theory. He proposed that the structure
of intracellular membranes and filaments, which are fractal in form, might
generate or sustain local fields. Virtually all biomembranous structures
in vivo
can generate local electric fields and proton gradients. Enzymes can act as
the energy-transducing measuring devices of such local fields. In some ways
we may say that the field provides a “glue,” which was not available at the
individual, localized level of discrete components (see also Paton [13]). Popp
et al. [16] discussed the possibility of DNA acting as a source of lased “biopho-
tons.” This was based on experiments in which DNA conformational changes
induced with ethidium bromide
in vivo
were reflected by changes in the photon
emission of cells. In another study, Popp et al. [15] compared theoretically
expected results of photon emission from a chaotic (thermal) field with those
of an ordered (fully coherent) field with experimental data and concluded that
there are ample indications for the hypothesis that biophotons originate from a
coherent field within living tissues.
Klinman [10] discussed
in vitro
experiments of hydrogen tunneling at room
temperature in yeast alcohol dehydrogenase and bovine serum amine oxidase.
She showed that the reaction coordinate for these enzymes, rather than being a
sharp transition (giving a step function) is smoothed to give a sigmoidal/logistic-
shaped curve. These molecules are measuring quantum effects that are mag-
nified to the meso- and macroscale. Given that enzyme-substrate complexes
and many other protein-based interactions provide switching functions, we here
have an example of a quantum mechanical switch, albeit within a test tube rather
than an intracellular experiment. These enzymes are fuzzy not just because of
thermodynamic effects but because of interactions and measurements taking
place at the microscale. This capacity for interaction implies local measurement
and information generation.
PROTEINS AS “SMART” COMPUTATIONAL AGENTS
A goal for the future would be to determine the extent of knowledge the cell
has of itself and how it utilises this knowledge in a “thoughtful” manner when
challenged.
—Barbara McClintock
We noted in the previous section that biological information can be generated
at the quantum (micro-) level of biological organization and that the effects
impact on meso- and macroscales. Knowledge about the subtle intricacies of
