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Life's Ratchet: How Molecular Machines Extract Order from Chaos

Page 31

by Hoffmann, Peter M.


  nanoscale and, 91, 123–124, 135, 158

  thermal motion and, 145–146, 168, 205, 226

  Chaperonin molecules, 114, 223

  Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de, 57, 58, 60

  Cheese making, 111–112

  Chemical bonds

  cooperativity of, 116

  energy, 123, 124

  See also Hydrogen bonds

  Chemical energy

  conversion into electrical energy, 193–194

  conversion into mechanical energy, 184–187

  Chemical reactions

  activation energy and, 146–150

  temperature and, 109

  Chemi-osmotic process, 194

  Christianity, material world and, 15–17

  Chromokinesin, 182

  Chromosomes, 61–62

  Clock, as analogy for living organism, 25, 66, 214

  Coefficient of correlation, 56

  Coenzyme A, 193

  Coiled coil, of kinesin-1, 177

  Collagen

  assembly of, 108–110

  MMPs and, 209–210

  Competitive inhibition, 151

  Computer analogy of life, 25n, 230

  Conservation of energy, 10–11, 37–41, 70, 73–74, 126–127

  Continuum physics, 98

  Control molecules, 152–154

  Cooperativity, 104–106

  of chemical bonds, 116–117

  molecular switching and, 121–122

  water molecules and, 117–120

  Cow, 241–242

  Creationists, 221–223, 224, 226

  Crichton, Michael, 92

  Crick, Francis, 6, 201–202

  Crystals, 64–65

  CTP, 206

  Cytosine, 201, 202, 205

  Damping, of liquid layers, 118–120

  Darwin, Charles, 71

  chance vs. necessity and, 60

  Paley and, 214

  on question of Creation, 245–246

  teleology and, 36

  theory of evolution, 41–44

  Dawkins, Richard, 222

  The Day the Earth Stood Still (film), 92

  Delbrück, Max, 62, 63, 64

  Democritus, 13, 14, 26, 60

  Depletion zone, 108, 109

  De rerum natura (Lucretius), 14

  Descartes, René, 214

  energy conservation and, 37

  on heat, 27

  soul and, 4, 20

  The Description of the Human Body (Descartes), 20

  Despretz, César-Mansuète, 39

  Development, 237

  Dice, 49

  Diffusion, 162, 163, 164, 212

  biased, 178

  Diffusion limited, 103

  Diffusion-limited aggregation, 103

  Disorder, entropy and, 79

  Dissipative systems, 86

  Disulfide bridges, 116

  DNA, 6, 65

  evolutionary changes in, 222

  hydrogen bonds in, 116, 201, 205

  information contained in, 222–223

  as molecular track, 154–155

  physical law and, 223

  protein synthesis and, 115, 200, 207–209

  as recipe, 100–101, 223–224

  replication of, 202–205

  RNA and, 205–207

  stability of, 116–117

  structure of, 4, 201–202

  transcription, 202, 205–207, 208

  translation, 207–209

  DNA machines, 200–209

  DNA operon, 236–237

  DNA polymerase, 203, 204

  The Doctrine of Chances (Moivre), 54

  Drebbel, Cornelius, 22

  Drexler, K. Eric, 94

  Drift, 162, 163

  Drugs, regulation of molecular machines and, 232, 233

  Drunkard’s walk, 162

  The Drunkard’s Walk (Mlodinow), 54

  Dualism, 20–21

  Dulong, Pierre Louis, 39

  Dynein, 169, 170, 171

  Efficiency

  of engines, 126–127

  of human body, 136

  Eigen, Manfred, 66, 133

  Einstein, Albert, 56, 72, 105–106, 129

  Electrical energy, conversion from chemical energy in cell, 193–194

  Electricity, study of living organisms and, 35–36

  Electromotor, F0, 197–199

  Electron-beam writers, 100

  Electrons, 241

  Electron transfer chain, 193–194

  Electrostatic energy, 123, 124

  Elements, Greek conception of, 13, 15, 17, 29

  Embryology, 31–32, 33

  Endocytosis, 192

  Energy, 69–70

  activation, 146–150

  chemical, 184–187, 193–194

  conversion of, 10–11, 39–40, 75–78

  creation of snowflake and, 102–103

  electrical, 193–194

  electrostatic, 123, 124

  free, 80–83

  gravitational, 70, 74, 77

  gravitational potential, 134–135

  heat, 70, 73, 74

  mechanical, 184–187

  at nanoscale, 122–124

  open systems, 85–87

  self-assembly and, 108–109

  thermal, 70, 73, 74

  See also Free energy; Kinetic energy; Thermodynamics

  Energy conservation, 10–11, 37–41, 70, 73–74, 126–127

  Energy landscape

  probability of motion and, 163, 164

  of protein, 113–114, 115

  Engines of Creation (Drexler), 94

  Entropic forces, 106–110

  Entropy

  big bang and, 84

  creation of snowflake and, 102–103

  defining, 76, 79–80

  free energy and, 81–82

  Maxwell’s demon and, 131–132

  self-assembly and, 108–110, 111–112

  See also Second law of thermodynamics

  Enzymes, 149–150

  activation energy and, 149

  allosteric, 151–154, 155

  cellular control and, 150–154

  molecular machines as, 231–232

  RNA as, 219–220

  Epicurus, 14, 15

  Epigenesists, 31–32

  Equality, Jarzynski’s, 134–136

  Error law, 54, 55

  Escherichia coli, lac-operon, 235–236

  Eugenics, 55–56

  European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 219

  Evolution, 216–225

  chance vs. necessity in, 222, 225

  Chardin and, 58

  of molecular machines, 7, 218–221, 226–227

  natural selection and, 41–44

  physics and, 60–63

  as ratchet, 225–226

  Thompson and, 57–58

  Ewald, Paul Peter, 63

  Exclusion zone, 108, 109

  “Experimentally Demonstrable

  Molecular Phenomena, Which Contradict Standard Thermodynamics” (Smoluchowski), 129

  F0 unit, of ATP synthase, 197–200

  F1 unit, of ATP synthase, 196–198, 199

  De fabrica (Vesalius), 19

  FADH2, 193, 194

  FCS. See Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS)

  Feedback loops

  DNA and, 223–224, 235–236

  molecular, 153–154, 231, 233

  self-activating, 237

  Fermat, Pierre de, 50–51, 52

  Fernel, Jean François, 27

  Feynman, Richard, nanoscience and, 91–92, 93, 97, 98, 100

  Feynman’s ratchet, 138–141

  Fibers, 154

  Filaments, 154

  Financial crisis of 2008, cooperativity and, 121

  Fire, 29–30

  First law of thermodynamics, 73

  Flagella, self-assembly of, 110

  Flavobacterium, 217–218, 220

  Flemming, Walther, 61

  Fludd, Robert, 20

  Fluorescence correlation spectros
copy

  (FCS), 175, 210

  Fluorescence-based single-molecular techniques, 175–176

  Fluorescent markers, for motor proteins, 175–176

  Focused-ion beams, 100

  Fokker-Planck equation, 163

  Food, conversion into ATP energy, 192–194

  Force, 10

  entropic, 106–110

  generated by hydrolysis of ATP, 172

  hydrophobic, 111–112, 116

  molecular motion and, 163

  proton-motive, 196, 197

  See also Life force; Vital forces

  Frame-shift mutation, 217

  Frankenstein (Shelley), 34–35

  Franklin, Benjamin, 28

  Free energy, 80–83

  molecular machines and, 157–159

  molecular storm and, 83–85

  motion of kinesin-1 and, 179–180

  reset step and, 157–158

  self-assembly of molecules and, 101

  FRET, 175

  Friction, 28, 37, 70, 74, 77, 87, 134–136

  Fridman, Rafael, 210, 233–234

  Frog leg experiments, 35, 38–40

  G proteins, 220

  Galen, 17, 19, 27

  Galileo, 21, 22, 128

  Galton, Francis, 55–56

  Galvani, Luigi, 35, 38

  Gambling, 47–53

  Games, interplay of necessity and chance in, 66

  Gamow, George, 130

  Gassendi, Pierre, 20–21

  Gauss, Carl Friedrich, 54

  Gavin, Sean, 241

  Gedankenexperiment, 127–128

  Gene, 202

  Schrödinger and, 64–65

  Genetic code, 202

  Genetics, 43–44, 61–62

  Gerber, Christoph, 94–95

  Gibbs, Josiah Willard, 68

  Glucose, 193, 194

  Gluons, 241

  God

  Chardin and, 58

  La Mettrie and, 25–26

  materialist philosophy and, 20–21

  randomness and, 46–47

  reason and, 15

  soul and, 16

  theory of evolution and, 42–43, 44

  Goldberg, Gregory, 209–210

  Goldberg’s law of physics, 209

  Golgi apparatus, 169, 170

  Gradients, machines and, 127

  Graininess of matter, 98

  Graunt, John, 53

  Gravitational energy, 70, 74, 77

  Gravitational potential energy, 134–135

  Gravity, 84–85

  Greek philosophy, life force and, 12–17

  Grimble, Ralph, 96

  GTP, 206

  Guanine, 201, 202, 205

  Hänggi, Peter, 144–145

  Harvey, William, 19–20, 26

  Heart

  function of, 19–20

  heat and, 26–27

  Heat

  generation of animal, 26–30

  life and, 17

  as motion, 37

  Heat energy, 70, 73, 74

  Heinlein, Robert, 94

  Helicase, 203, 204–205, 209

  Helium, 84, 85

  Helmholtz, Hermann von, 36–37, 63

  biophysics and, 90

  conservation of energy and, 37, 38–41, 60, 70, 126–127, 137

  energy from food, 193

  evolution and, 44

  Helmont, Jan Baptist van, 27

  Heredity, 61–62, 64

  Hexagonal close-packing, 103

  Hippocrates, 17

  Hoerber, Heinrich, 3

  Hohenheim, Phillippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von, 18

  Holism, 5, 238–242

  L’homme machine, 22–26

  Hooke, Robert, 4, 22, 28, 33, 67

  Human body

  efficiency of, 136

  as machine, 19–22

  physical nature of, 24–26

  transformation of energy by, 10–11

  Human Genome Project, 224

  Huxley, Andrew, 187

  Huxley, Thomas Henry, 42, 217

  Hydrogen, 84, 85

  Hydrogen bonds

  in DNA, 116, 201, 205

  in water, 110–111

  Hydrolysis of ATP, 171–172, 177–181, 184–187, 192

  Hydrophilic head, of lipid molecules, 104–105, 107

  Hydrophobic force, 111–112, 116

  Hydrophobic tail, of lipid molecules, 104–105, 107

  Ideal gas law, 65

  Information, meaning vs., 222–223

  Inheritance, 43–44, 61–62

  Inhibition of enzymes, 151–154

  Inhibitory binding, 231–232

  Instability, creation of snowflake and, 102

  Intelligent design, 223, 245

  Interfaces, in nanoscale, 98–99

  Irreducibility argument, 221–222

  Irreversibility, 133–134, 158

  Irritability, 24, 34–36

  experiments disproving vital forces as necessary for, 38–40

  Isoleucine, 151–152

  Iyengar, Ravi, 236

  Jacob, François, 153, 235

  Janssen, Hans, 22

  Janssen, Zacharias, 22

  Jarzynski, Christopher, 134–136

  Jeffries, Steve, 96

  John the Evangelist, 15

  Joule, James, 37

  Jun, Yonggun, 132

  Kant, Immanuel, 32–33

  KIF1B, 182

  Kielmeyer, Carl Friedrich, 33

  Kinesin motors, 160–162, 167

  Kinesins, 169, 170, 171, 209

  kinesin-1, 176–181, 232

  kinesin-2, 182, 232

  kinesin-3, 182, 232

  kinesin-5, 182, 233

  kinesin-7, 232

  classes of, 170

  family of, 181–182

  G proteins and, 220

  measuring speed of, 173–174

  regulation of, 232–233

  superfamily, 221

  Kinetic energy, 70, 72–75, 74, 85

  Jarzynski’s equality and, 134–136

  Kinetic theory of gases, 60, 71

 

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