Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
We may refer to Statement (10.1a) as the
four-fold theoretical requirement
of the
living cell.
The BCT is a 3-dimensional network with 5 nodes and 10 edges. The meanings
of the nodes are evident in their names, but those of the 10 edges are not so obvious
and require explanations. For example, the edge connecting nodes 3 (cell force) and
4 (cell language) embodies the following explanations:
a) Cell language is a form of organization.
b) Organization is a form of work.
c) Work is the product of a
force
and a
displacement
.
d) Therefore, cell language requires the existence of a
force
acting inside the cell
(whichwas named the
cell force
in 1991).
Similar sets of explanations may be constructed for most, if not all, of the
remaining edges.The
cell force
was postulated in 1991 to be a new force in nature
(after gravitational, electromagnetic, weak, and strong forces) that is responsible for
the
functional stability
of the biochemical processes going on inside the living cell,
just as the strong force is responsible for the
structural stability
of atomic nuclei
despite electrostatic repulsion. The cell force concept was formulated in analogy to
the strong force and is supported by a qualitative application of the Yang-Mills
gauge field theory to cell biology (Section 12.13; see also Appendix L). In Section
12.13, the first experimental evidence is discussed that is provided by the whole-cell
RNA metabolic kinetic data measured with DNA microarrays and interpreted using
the concepts derived from the
renormalization group theory
(Huang 2007).
10.5 The Atom-Cell Isomorphism Postulate
There may exist a set of principles and properties commonly manifest in both
the atom and the living cell. For convenience, we will refer to this notion as the
atom-cell isomorphism postulate
(ACIP), and the set of the principles and the features
common to the atom and the cell as the ACIP set. If ACIP is true, we can anticipate
that our current knowledge on the atomwill provide us with a useful theoretical guide
for modeling the living cell. Whether ACIP is true or not will depend solely on
whether or not the cell model constructed on the basis of it leads to results useful in
(1) explaining and organizing existing experimental data on the cell, (2) generating
testable hypotheses in basic as well as applied researches in cell biology (e.g., drug
design, predictive toxicology, stem cell research, etc.), and (3) resolving cell-related
controversies such as the definition of genes (Sapp 1987), the evolution-creation
debate (Ruse 2005), stem cell wars (Herold 2007), and science-religion discourses
(Ji 1993; Barbour 1997; Polkinghorne 2002, 2010; Kurtz 2003).
One of the elements of the ACIP set is the notion that the atom and the cell can
be viewed as networks constructed out of two types of nodes emanating from a
common root, as shown in Fig.
10.3
and explained in Table
10.3
. Just as the atom is
composed of hadrons (i.e., heavy particles, including protons and neutrons) and
leptons (i.e., light particles, including electrons and muons) interacting through
