Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
biopolymers (i.e., conformons) are responsible to produce the
concentration waves
of diffusible molecular entities inside the cell, that is, IDSs as a consequence of
the laws of chemistry (Ji 1985a, b). These and other analogical relations are
summarized in Schemes
8.1
and
8.2
and Table
8.1
, where the difference between
sheet music
and
audio music
is introduced as a metaphor to differentiate between
two forms of genes (Ji 1988) - (1) the
static form
of genes identified with nucleotide
sequences, called the
Watson-Crick genes,
and (2) the
dynamic form
of genes
identified with conformons and IDSs, referred to as the
Prigoginian genes
:
Physics
Pianist
Sheet Music !
Phonons ð
of Vibrating Strings
Þ!
AudioMusic
(8.1)
Cell
DNA
ð
Watson - Crick genes
Þ !
Conformons
ð
Oscillating biopolymers;
Chemistry
Lumry
McClare genes
Þ !
IDSs
ð
Prigoginian genes)
(8.2)
Alternatively, Process
8.2
can be expressed as follows:
P
N
!
C
(8.3)
where N is the nucleotide system (including DNA and RNA) that stores the
Watson-Crick form of genetic information, P is the protein system (including
enzymes) that stores the Lumry-McClare form, and C is the chemical system
(including IDSs) storing the Prigoginian form of genetic information, the three
systems constituting the main components of the living cell. Scheme (8-3)
incorporating the new concept of the Lumry-McClare form of genetic information
was formulated in my 02/03/2012 email to M. Burgin, the author of
The Theory of
Information: Fundamentality, Diversity and Unification
(Burgin 2010) based on my
1989 abstract submitted to the Fifth FAOB (Federation of Asian and Oceanian
Biochemists) Congress held in Seoul, Korea. I have taken the liberty of attaching
the email to this topic (see Appendix N) for the convenience of the readers.
Statement 8.3 is consistent with the definition of genes given in Rows 3, 4, and 5
in Table
8.1
.
In Table
8.1
, the key analogical items are written in
italics
. Since both
conformons and IDSs absolutely require free energy dissipation to exist and be
maintained, they are examples of
dissipative structures
of Prigogine (see Rows 4
from cell membrane to the nucleus) and
time
(e.g., from a progenitor to its progeny,
or from an embryo to its adult form) in order to carry out their functions both as
individuals and as a member of a community. It was postulated in (Ji 1988) that (1)
traditional nucleotide sequences encoding proteins and regulatory information
(called the Watson-Crick genes) transmit information in time and (2) dissipative
structures consisting of dynamic gradients of all sorts (referred to as the Prigoginian
