MOLECULAR AND BIOLOGICAL PHYSICS OF LIVING SYSTEMS

Transcription

1 MOLECULAR AND BIOLOGICAL PHYSICS OF LIVING SYSTEMS

2 MOLECULAR AND BIOLOGICAL PHYSICS OF LIVING SYSTEMS edited by R. K. MISHRA North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS DORDRECHT / BOSTON / LONDON

3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Molecular and biological physics of living systems / edited by R.K. Mishra. p. cm. Includes bib,iographical references. 1. Biophysics. 2. Molecular biology. 3. Biological systems. I. Mishra, R. K., Professor. QH505.M '8--dc ISBN-13: e-isbn-13: DOl: / Published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Kluwer Academic Publishers incorporates the publishing programmes of D. Reidel, Martinus Nijhoff, Dr W. Junk and MTP Press. Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Academic Publishers, 101 Philip Drive, Norwell, MA 02061, U.S.A. In all other countries, sold and distributed by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, P.O. Box 322,3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Material put together by Mibanka Heritage, Delhi Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1990 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.

4 PREFACE The living organisms and systems possess extraordinary properties of programmed development, differentiation, growth, response, movement, duplication of key molecules and in m any cases higher mental functions. But the organisms are physical objects so they must follow laws of physics yet they do not seem to obey them. Physicists cannot easily persuade themselves to accept this as finally true. Non-living objects are governed by these laws of physics and they can explain these properties. However, in the living systems too phenomena encountered like coupled non-linear interactions, manybody effects, cooperativity, coherence, phase transitions, reversible metastable states are being understood better with the aid of powerful theoretical and experimental techniques and hope is raised that these may let us understand the mysteriousness of life. Contributors to this volume are a small fraction of rapidly growing scientific opinion that these aspects of living bodies are to be expected in a hitherto inadequately suspected state of matter which is in the main directed by these physical properties pushed almost to limit. This state of matter, the living matter, deserves to be called The Living State. Mishra proposes that given hydrogenic orbitals, atoms showing easy hybridisability and multiple valances, molecules with low-lying electronic levels, "loosestructure", and a metabolic pump in thermodynamically open system, various fundamental properties of living state can emerge automatically. Structurally these are all known to be present. Experiment for dynamic behaviour would consist in monitoring and measuring flow of optical and suboptical photons labelling specific biochemical or physiological activity. Bullough and collaborators refer to Schrodinger's earlier ideas about free energy/entropy distribution in many atom systems and show results contrary to his view if characteristic length is considered, a prediction proved by experiments on high Rydberg Na atoms. Newman considers a wide role of adhesion in matrix driven translocation for organising tissues. Smith describes the boundaries of living state and shows v

5 vi Physics/Liv(ng Systems correspondence between inferred and actual results, say in case of heart; its rate 1Hz, is set by the lifespan of 2.2 Gsec. Similarly, range of cell sizes in egg and mass can be deduced; as well as size of electrical fields, flux quanta at B, and Poynting vector. Vaidyanathan tries to analyse the basis of nonlinearity in living system, which nature has devised in abundance perhaps to tease the theoretician. Welch and Smith analyse the hierarchical fields at the level of metabolic infrastructure. The problem of characteristic photon emission or absorption at optical and sub optical levels designating specific enzymatic or physiological processes has been very intriguing. Li discusses the dynamics of excited states of DNA and the excimer ("exciplex") radiation. Interaction between electromagnetic waves and chemical base oscillation has been studied. Cilento et al examine the question of biochemcially induced triplet states and singlet excitations. These are already quite well known (bioluminescence). This may have much bearing on Mishra's search for metabolic pumps ordering multicomponent, heterogenous Boson sea. Callahan with his background in infrared and Radar studies turns the attention to ELF vibration frequency, Cabannes and Raleigh scattering with reference to life-organising coherent systems as a spin-off from the studies on insect communication. Wu, like Frohlich, examines excitations of phonons in biological systems in metabolic processes. Bajpai shows how number of states may arise from Frohlich's conjecture and how biophotons may be emitted. Ji continues his studies in Bhopalator - a model of the cell, and introduces the new concept of "gnergon" and "gnergy" emphasising that living processes may involve a unit which combines both information (gnon) and energy. This connects to reported work of a group of workers on information processing. Conrad discusses photon flow, as the possible basis of biological super-conducting and super-information transfer. Hastings discusses the basic substrate of biological information processing. While Conrad and Kamfner propose double dynamics in cellular functions, Hasting proposes another dynamics including both internal and external dynamics, discrete and continuous, which act in a way similar to this double dynamics. Veda, Matsumoto and Kobotake by analysis of movement of amoeboid cell system state that mitochondria are involved in the

6 Preface vii 'time keeping' of rhythmic activity. Distribution of intracellular A TP concentration is not uniform but changes to polar or wavy character corresponding to various behaviour patterns of the cell. Perhaps mitochondria control dynamics of intracellular ions described by Saito, Herman and Mishra. Lastly, Hastings gives us an overview of the types of fractal models of relevance to the living state in its self-similar morphology and physiology. The organisers and the editor gratefully acknowledge all the help given by Professor Abdus Salaam, ICTP, Trieste, North-Eastern Council, Government of India, a most generous contribution from Professor Michael Conrad and the North-Eastern Hill University. Thanks are due to my colleagues Drs. Bajpai, D. Roy for help and Drs. Shukla, Dwivedi, V. Singh, P. Nonkynryh for very valuable collaboration in various relevant tasks.

7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Prefure v 1. Some remarks on the organisation of living matter and its thermal disorganisation R.K. Bullough, R.R. Puri and S.S. Hassan 1 2. Enhanced Excitation in Biosystem T.M. Wu Dynamics of DNA Excited States K. H. Li and F.A. Popp On the Field Structure of Metabolic Space-Time G. Rickey Welch and H.A. Smith The Boundaries of the Living State Cyril W. Smith Biological Generation of Electronically Excited States: Possible Roles G. Cilento, A. Campa, A.L.T.O. Nascimento and M. Salim-Hanna The Substrate for Biological Information Processing Harold M. Hastings Fractal Models Harold M. Hastings Perception in an Amoeboid Cell Tetsuo UEDA, Kenji MATSUMOTO and Yonosuke KOBATAKE What is a Physical Theory of Living State? V.S. Vaidhyanathan Superinformation Processing: The Feasibility of Proton Superflow in the Living State Michael Conrad Focal Myocardial Necrosis Induced by a Magnesiumdeficeint Diet: A Quantitative Study of Intracellular Dynamics Tamiko Sato, Lawrence Herman and R.K. Mishra 175

8 x Physics/Living Systems 13. The Bhopalator -A Molecular Model of the Living Cell; New Developments Sungchul Ji The Living State, The Matrix of Self Organisation R.K. Mishra Nonlinear Infrared Coherent Radiation as an Energy Coupling Mechanism in Living Systems Philip S. Callahan Possible Varieties of States Consistent With Frohlich's Conjecture R.P. Bajpai Dynamical Aspects of Cell-Matrix Interactions Stuart A. Newman 281 Author Index 295 ~~~~ m