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De Bari B, Kondepudi DK, Vaidya A, Dixon JA. Bio-analog dissipative structures and principles of biological behavior. Biosystems 2024; 239:105214. [PMID: 38642881 DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2024.105214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2023] [Revised: 03/21/2024] [Accepted: 04/14/2024] [Indexed: 04/22/2024]
Abstract
The place of living organisms in the natural world is a nearly perennial question in philosophy and the sciences; how can inanimate matter yield animate beings? A dominant answer for several centuries has been to treat organisms as sophisticated machines, studying them with the mechanistic physics and chemistry that have given rise to technology and complex machines. Since the early 20th century, many scholars have sought instead to naturalize biology through thermodynamics, recognizing the precarious far-from-equilibrium state of organisms. Erwin Bauer was an early progenitor of this perspective with ambitions of "general laws for the movement of living matter". In addition to taking a thermodynamic perspective, Bauer recognized that organisms are fundamentally behaving systems, and that explaining the physics of life requires explaining the origins of intentionality, adaptability, and self-regulation. Bauer, like some later scholars, seems to advocate for a "new physics", one that extends beyond mechanics and classical thermodynamic, one that would be inclusive of living systems. In this historical review piece, we explore some of Bauer's ideas and explain how similar concepts have been explored in modern non-equilibrium thermodynamics and dissipative structure theory. Non-living dissipative structures display end-directedness, self-maintenance, and adaptability analogous to organisms. These findings also point to an alternative framework for the life sciences, that treats organisms not as machines but as sophisticated dissipative structures. We evaluate the differences between mechanistic and thermodynamic perspectives on life, and what each theory entails for understanding the behavior of organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin De Bari
- Department of Social Sciences, DeSales University, Center Valley, PA, USA; Center for the Ecological Study of Perception and Action, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
| | - Dilip K Kondepudi
- Department of Chemistry, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA; Center for the Ecological Study of Perception and Action, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | - Ashwin Vaidya
- Department of Mathematics, Montclair State University, Monctlair, NJ, USA; Center for the Ecological Study of Perception and Action, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | - James A Dixon
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA; Center for the Ecological Study of Perception and Action, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
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2
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De la Fuente IM, Carrasco-Pujante J, Camino-Pontes B, Fedetz M, Bringas C, Pérez-Samartín A, Pérez-Yarza G, López JI, Malaina I, Cortes JM. Systemic cellular migration: The forces driving the directed locomotion movement of cells. PNAS NEXUS 2024; 3:pgae171. [PMID: 38706727 PMCID: PMC11067954 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 05/07/2024]
Abstract
Directional motility is an essential property of cells. Despite its enormous relevance in many fundamental physiological and pathological processes, how cells control their locomotion movements remains an unresolved question. Here, we have addressed the systemic processes driving the directed locomotion of cells. Specifically, we have performed an exhaustive study analyzing the trajectories of 700 individual cells belonging to three different species (Amoeba proteus, Metamoeba leningradensis, and Amoeba borokensis) in four different scenarios: in absence of stimuli, under an electric field (galvanotaxis), in a chemotactic gradient (chemotaxis), and under simultaneous galvanotactic and chemotactic stimuli. All movements were analyzed using advanced quantitative tools. The results show that the trajectories are mainly characterized by coherent integrative responses that operate at the global cellular scale. These systemic migratory movements depend on the cooperative nonlinear interaction of most, if not all, molecular components of cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ildefonso M De la Fuente
- Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa 48940, Spain
- Department of Nutrition, CEBAS-CSIC Institute, Espinardo University Campus, Murcia 30100, Spain
| | - Jose Carrasco-Pujante
- Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa 48940, Spain
| | | | - Maria Fedetz
- Department of Cell Biology and Immunology, Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine “López-Neyra”, CSIC, Granada 18016, Spain
| | - Carlos Bringas
- Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa 48940, Spain
| | - Alberto Pérez-Samartín
- Department of Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa 48940, Spain
| | - Gorka Pérez-Yarza
- Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa 48940, Spain
| | - José I López
- Biobizkaia Health Research Institute, Barakaldo 48903, Spain
| | - Iker Malaina
- Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa 48940, Spain
| | - Jesus M Cortes
- Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa 48940, Spain
- Biobizkaia Health Research Institute, Barakaldo 48903, Spain
- IKERBASQUE: The Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao 48009, Spain
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3
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Kriete A. Dissipative scaling of development and aging in multicellular organisms. Biosystems 2024; 237:105157. [PMID: 38367762 DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2024.105157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Revised: 01/31/2024] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 02/19/2024]
Abstract
Evolution, self-replication and ontogenesis are highly dynamic, irreversible and self-organizing processes dissipating energy. While progress has been made to decipher the role of thermodynamics in cellular fission, it is not yet clear how entropic balances shape organism growth and aging. This paper derives a general dissipation theory for the life history of organisms. It implies a self-regulated energy dissipation facilitating exponential growth within a hierarchical and entropy lowering self-organization. The theory predicts ceilings in energy expenditures imposed by geometric constrains, which promote thermal optimality during development, and a dissipative scaling across organisms consistent with ecological scaling laws combining isometric and allometric terms. The theory also illustrates how growing organisms can tolerate damage through continuous extension and production of new dissipative structures low in entropy. However, when organisms reduce their rate of cell division and reach a steady adult state, they become thermodynamically unstable, increase internal entropy by accumulating damage, and age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andres Kriete
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, Drexel University, Bossone Research Center, 3141 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
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4
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Skene KR. Systems theory, thermodynamics and life: Integrated thinking across ecology, organization and biological evolution. Biosystems 2024; 236:105123. [PMID: 38244715 DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2024.105123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2023] [Revised: 01/15/2024] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 01/22/2024]
Abstract
In this paper we explore the relevance and integration of system theory and thermodynamics in terms of the Earth system. It is proposed that together, these fields explain the evolution, organization, functionality and directionality of life on Earth. We begin by summarizing historical and current thinking on the definition of life itself. We then investigate the evidence for a single unit of life. Given that any definition of life and its levels of organization are intertwined, we explore how the Earth system is structured and functions from an energetic perspective, by outlining relevant thermodynamic theory relating to molecular, metabolic, cellular, individual, population, species, ecosystem and biome organization. We next investigate the fundamental relationships between systems theory and thermodynamics in terms of the Earth system, examining the key characteristics of self-assembly, self-organization (including autonomy), emergence, non-linearity, feedback and sub-optimality. Finally, we examine the relevance of systems theory and thermodynamics with reference to two specific aspects: the tempo and directionality of evolution and the directional and predictable process of ecological succession. We discuss the importance of the entropic drive in understanding altruism, multicellularity, mutualistic and antagonistic relationships and how maximum entropy production theory may explain patterns thought to evidence the intermediate disturbance hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keith R Skene
- Biosphere Research Institute, Angus, United Kingdom.
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5
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Gómez-Márquez J. Reflections upon a new definition of life. THE SCIENCE OF NATURE - NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN 2023; 110:53. [PMID: 37917201 DOI: 10.1007/s00114-023-01882-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Revised: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023]
Abstract
What is life? Multiple definitions have been proposed to answer this question, but unfortunately, none of them has reached the consensus of the scientific community. Here, the strategy used to define what life is was based on first establishing which characteristics are common to all living systems (organic nature, entropy-producing system, self-organizing, reworkable pre-program, capacity to interact and adapt, reproduction and evolution) and from them constructing the definition taking into account that reproduction and evolution are not essential for life. On this basis, life is defined as an interactive process occurring in entropy-producing, adaptive, and informative (organic) systems. An unforeseen consequence of the inseparable duality between the system (living being) and the process (life) is the interchangeability of the elements of the definition to obtain other equally valid alternatives. In addition, in the light of this definition, cases of temporarily lifeless living systems (viruses, dormant seeds, and ultracold cells) are analyzed, as well as the status of artificial life entities and the hypothetical nature of extraterrestrial life. All living systems are perishable because the passage of time leads to increasing entropy. Life must create order by continuously producing disorder and exporting it to the environment and so we move and stay in the phase transition between order and chaos, far from equilibrium, thanks to the input of energy from the outside. However, the passage of time eventually leads us to an end in which life disappears and entropy increases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaime Gómez-Márquez
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Bldg. CIBUS-Faculty of Biology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain.
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6
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Nunn AVW, Guy GW, Bell JD. Informing the Cannabis Conjecture: From Life's Beginnings to Mitochondria, Membranes and the Electrome-A Review. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:13070. [PMID: 37685877 PMCID: PMC10488084 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241713070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Revised: 08/15/2023] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 09/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Before the late 1980s, ideas around how the lipophilic phytocannabinoids might be working involved membranes and bioenergetics as these disciplines were "in vogue". However, as interest in genetics and pharmacology grew, interest in mitochondria (and membranes) waned. The discovery of the cognate receptor for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) led to the classification of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and the conjecture that phytocannabinoids might be "working" through this system. However, the how and the "why" they might be beneficial, especially for compounds like CBD, remains unclear. Given the centrality of membranes and mitochondria in complex organisms, and their evolutionary heritage from the beginnings of life, revisiting phytocannabinoid action in this light could be enlightening. For example, life can be described as a self-organising and replicating far from equilibrium dissipating system, which is defined by the movement of charge across a membrane. Hence the building evidence, at least in animals, that THC and CBD modulate mitochondrial function could be highly informative. In this paper, we offer a unique perspective to the question, why and how do compounds like CBD potentially work as medicines in so many different conditions? The answer, we suggest, is that they can modulate membrane fluidity in a number of ways and thus dissipation and engender homeostasis, particularly under stress. To understand this, we need to embrace origins of life theories, the role of mitochondria in plants and explanations of disease and ageing from an adaptive thermodynamic perspective, as well as quantum mechanics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alistair V. W. Nunn
- Research Centre for Optimal Health, Department of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London W1W 6UW, UK; (G.W.G.); (J.D.B.)
- The Guy Foundation, Beaminster DT8 3HY, UK
| | - Geoffrey W. Guy
- Research Centre for Optimal Health, Department of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London W1W 6UW, UK; (G.W.G.); (J.D.B.)
- The Guy Foundation, Beaminster DT8 3HY, UK
| | - Jimmy D. Bell
- Research Centre for Optimal Health, Department of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London W1W 6UW, UK; (G.W.G.); (J.D.B.)
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7
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Pierce S. Life's Mechanism. Life (Basel) 2023; 13:1750. [PMID: 37629607 PMCID: PMC10455287 DOI: 10.3390/life13081750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Revised: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The multifarious internal workings of organisms are difficult to reconcile with a single feature defining a state of 'being alive'. Indeed, definitions of life rely on emergent properties (growth, capacity to evolve, agency) only symptomatic of intrinsic functioning. Empirical studies demonstrate that biomolecules including ratcheting or rotating enzymes and ribozymes undergo repetitive conformation state changes driven either directly or indirectly by thermodynamic gradients. They exhibit disparate structures, but govern processes relying on directional physical motion (DNA transcription, translation, cytoskeleton transport) and share the principle of repetitive uniplanar conformation changes driven by thermodynamic gradients, producing dependable unidirectional motion: 'heat engines' exploiting thermodynamic disequilibria to perform work. Recognition that disparate biological molecules demonstrate conformation state changes involving directional motion, working in self-regulating networks, allows a mechanistic definition: life is a self-regulating process whereby matter undergoes cyclic, uniplanar conformation state changes that convert thermodynamic disequilibria into directed motion, performing work that locally reduces entropy. 'Living things' are structures including an autonomous network of units exploiting thermodynamic gradients to drive uniplanar conformation state changes that perform work. These principles are independent of any specific chemical environment, and can be applied to other biospheres.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Pierce
- Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (DiSAA), University of Milan, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milano, Italy
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8
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Krakauer DC. Symmetry-simplicity, broken symmetry-complexity. Interface Focus 2023; 13:20220075. [PMID: 37065260 PMCID: PMC10102721 DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2022.0075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2022] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 04/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Complex phenomena are made possible when: (i) fundamental physical symmetries are broken and (ii) from the set of broken symmetries historically selected ground states are applied to performing mechanical work and storing adaptive information. Over the course of several decades Philip Anderson enumerated several key principles that can follow from broken symmetry in complex systems. These include emergence, frustrated random functions, autonomy and generalized rigidity. I describe these as the four Anderson Principles all of which are preconditions for the emergence of evolved function. I summarize these ideas and discuss briefly recent extensions that engage with the related concept of functional symmetry breaking, inclusive of information, computation and causality.
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9
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Demicheli R, Hrushesky WJM. Reimagining Cancer: Moving from the Cellular to the Tissue Level. Cancer Res 2023; 83:173-180. [PMID: 36264185 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-22-1601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2022] [Revised: 07/25/2022] [Accepted: 10/13/2022] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
The current universally accepted explanation of cancer origin and behavior, the somatic mutation theory, is cell-centered and rooted in perturbation of gene function independent of the external environmental context. However, tumors consist of various epithelial and stromal cell populations temporally and spatially organized into an integrated neoplastic community, and they can have properties similar to normal tissues. Accordingly, we review specific normal cellular and tissue traits and behaviors with adaptive temporal and spatial self-organization that result in ordered patterns and structures. A few recent theories have described these tissue-level cancer behaviors, invoking a conceptual shift from the cellular level and highlighting the need for methodologic approaches based on the analysis of complex systems. We propose extending the analytical approach of regulatory networks to the tissue level and introduce the concept of "cancer attractors." These concepts require reevaluation of cancer imaging and investigational approaches and challenge the traditional reductionist approach of cancer molecular biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romano Demicheli
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences (DIBIC) "L. Sacco" & DSRC, LITA Vialba Campus, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - William J M Hrushesky
- School of Medicine and College of Pharmacy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.,WJB Dorn VA Medical Center, Columbia, South Carolina
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10
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Bizzarri M, Fedeli V, Piombarolo A, Angeloni A. Space Biomedicine: A Unique Opportunity to Rethink the Relationships between Physics and Biology. Biomedicines 2022; 10:biomedicines10102633. [PMID: 36289894 PMCID: PMC9599147 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10102633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2022] [Revised: 10/12/2022] [Accepted: 10/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Space biomedicine has provided significant technological breakthroughs by developing new medical devices, diagnostic tools, and health-supporting systems. Many of these products are currently in use onboard the International Space Station and have been successfully translated into clinical practice on Earth. However, biomedical research performed in space has disclosed exciting, new perspectives regarding the relationships between physics and medicine, thus fostering the rethinking of the theoretical basis of biology. In particular, these studies have stressed the critical role that biophysical forces play in shaping the function and pattern formation of living structures. The experimental models investigated under microgravity conditions allow us to appreciate the complexity of living organisms through a very different perspective. Indeed, biological entities should be conceived as a unique magnification of physical laws driven by local energy and order states overlaid by selection history and constraints, in which the source of the inheritance, variation, and process of selection has expanded from the classical Darwinian definition. The very specific nature of the field in which living organisms behave and evolve in a space environment can be exploited to decipher the underlying, basic processes and mechanisms that are not apparent on Earth. In turn, these findings can provide novel opportunities for testing pharmacological countermeasures that can be instrumental for managing a wide array of health problems and diseases on Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariano Bizzarri
- Department of Experimental Medicine, University La Sapienza, 00161 Rome, Italy
- Systems Biology Group Lab, Dip. “P.Valdoni”, University La Sapienza, 00161 Rome, Italy
- Correspondence:
| | - Valeria Fedeli
- Department of Experimental Medicine, University La Sapienza, 00161 Rome, Italy
- Systems Biology Group Lab, Dip. “P.Valdoni”, University La Sapienza, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - Aurora Piombarolo
- Department of Experimental Medicine, University La Sapienza, 00161 Rome, Italy
- Systems Biology Group Lab, Dip. “P.Valdoni”, University La Sapienza, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - Antonio Angeloni
- Department of Experimental Medicine, University La Sapienza, 00161 Rome, Italy
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11
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Arya A, Ray J, Sharma S, Cruz Simbron R, Lozano A, Smith HB, Andersen JL, Chen H, Meringer M, Cleaves HJ. An open source computational workflow for the discovery of autocatalytic networks in abiotic reactions. Chem Sci 2022; 13:4838-4853. [PMID: 35655880 PMCID: PMC9067619 DOI: 10.1039/d2sc00256f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
A central question in origins of life research is how non-entailed chemical processes, which simply dissipate chemical energy because they can do so due to immediate reaction kinetics and thermodynamics, enabled the origin of highly-entailed ones, in which concatenated kinetically and thermodynamically favorable processes enhanced some processes over others. Some degree of molecular complexity likely had to be supplied by environmental processes to produce entailed self-replicating processes. The origin of entailment, therefore, must connect to fundamental chemistry that builds molecular complexity. We present here an open-source chemoinformatic workflow to model abiological chemistry to discover such entailment. This pipeline automates generation of chemical reaction networks and their analysis to discover novel compounds and autocatalytic processes. We demonstrate this pipeline's capabilities against a well-studied model system by vetting it against experimental data. This workflow can enable rapid identification of products of complex chemistries and their underlying synthetic relationships to help identify autocatalysis, and potentially self-organization, in such systems. The algorithms used in this study are open-source and reconfigurable by other user-developed workflows.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aayush Arya
- Department of Physics, Lovely Professional University Jalandhar Delhi-GT Road Phagwara Punjab 144411 India
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science Seattle Washington 98104 USA
| | - Jessica Ray
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science Seattle Washington 98104 USA
| | - Siddhant Sharma
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science Seattle Washington 98104 USA
- Department of Biochemistry, Deshbandhu College, University of Delhi New Delhi 110019 India
| | - Romulo Cruz Simbron
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science Seattle Washington 98104 USA
- Laboratorio de Investigación Fisicoquímica (LABINFIS), Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería Av. Túpac Amaru 210 Lima Peru
- Centro de Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicaciones (CTIC UNI), Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria Av. Túpac Amaru 210 Lima Peru
| | - Alejandro Lozano
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science Seattle Washington 98104 USA
- Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria de Biotecnología - Instituto Politécnico Nacional 550 Av. Acueducto 07340 Mexico City Mexico
| | - Harrison B Smith
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology Tokyo Japan
| | - Jakob Lykke Andersen
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Southern Denmark Campusvej 55 5230 Odense M Denmark
| | - Huan Chen
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory Tallahassee Florida 32310 USA
| | - Markus Meringer
- German Aerospace Center (DLR) 82234 Oberpfaffenhofen Wessling Germany
| | - Henderson James Cleaves
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science Seattle Washington 98104 USA
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology Tokyo Japan
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12
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Sabater B. Entropy Perspectives of Molecular and Evolutionary Biology. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23084098. [PMID: 35456917 PMCID: PMC9029946 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23084098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 04/06/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Attempts to find and quantify the supposed low entropy of organisms and its preservation are revised. The absolute entropy of the mixed components of non-living biomass (approximately −1.6 × 103 J K−1 L−1) is the reference to which other entropy decreases would be ascribed to life. The compartmentation of metabolites and the departure from the equilibrium of metabolic reactions account for reductions in entropy of 1 and 40–50 J K−1 L−1, respectively, and, though small, are distinctive features of living tissues. DNA and proteins do not supply significant decreases in thermodynamic entropy, but their low informational entropy is relevant for life and its evolution. No other living feature contributes significantly to the low entropy associated with life. The photosynthetic conversion of radiant energy to biomass energy accounts for most entropy (2.8 × 105 J K−1 carbon kg−1) produced by living beings. The comparatively very low entropy produced in other processes (approximately 4.8 × 102 J K−1 L−1 day−1 in the human body) must be rapidly exported outside as heat to preserve low entropy decreases due to compartmentation and non-equilibrium metabolism. Enzymes and genes are described, whose control minimizes the rate of production of entropy and could explain selective pressures in biological evolution and the rapid proliferation of cancer cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bartolomé Sabater
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Alcalá, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
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13
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Barrett NF. Imaginative Culture and the Enriched Nature of Positive Experience. Front Psychol 2022; 13:831118. [PMID: 35317010 PMCID: PMC8934385 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.831118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Accepted: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
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14
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Critical transition across the Waddington landscape as an interpretative model: Comment on "Dynamic and thermodynamic models of adaptation" by A.N. Gorban et al. Phys Life Rev 2021; 38:115-119. [PMID: 34116954 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2021.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 05/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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15
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To What Inanimate Matter Are We Most Closely Related and Does the Origin of Life Harbor Meaning? PHILOSOPHIES 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/philosophies6020033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The question concerning the meaning of life is important, but it immediately confronts the present authors with insurmountable obstacles from a philosophical standpoint, as it would require us to define not only what we hold to be life, but what we hold to be meaning in addition, requiring us to do both in a properly researched context. We unconditionally surrender to that challenge. Instead, we offer a vernacular, armchair approach to life’s origin and meaning, with some layman’s thoughts on the meaning of origins as viewed from the biologist’s standpoint. One can observe that biologists generally approach the concept of biological meaning in the context of evolution. This is the basis for the broad resonance behind Dobzhansky’s appraisal that “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”. Biologists try to understand living things in the historical context of how they arose, without giving much thought to the definition of what life or living things are, which for a biologist is usually not an interesting question in the practical context of daily dealings with organisms. Do humans generally understand life’s meaning in the context of history? If we consider the problem of life’s origin, the question of what constitutes a living thing becomes somewhat more acute for the biologist, though not more answerable, because it is inescapable that there was a time when there were no organisms on Earth, followed by a time when there were, the latter time having persisted in continuity to the present. This raises the question of where, in that transition, chemicals on Earth became alive, requiring, in turn, a set of premises for how life arose in order to conceptualize the problem in relation to organisms we know today, including ourselves, which brings us to the point of this paper: In the same way that cultural narratives for origins always start with a setting, scientific narratives for origins also always start with a setting, a place on Earth or elsewhere where we can imagine what happened for the sake of structuring both the problem and the narrative for its solution. This raises the question of whether scientific origins settings convey meaning to humans in that they suggest to us from what kind of place and what kinds of chemicals we are descended, that is, to which inanimate things we are most closely related.
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Chirumbolo S, Vella A. Molecules, Information and the Origin of Life: What Is Next? Molecules 2021; 26:molecules26041003. [PMID: 33672848 PMCID: PMC7917628 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26041003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2021] [Revised: 02/09/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
How life did originate and what is life, in its deepest foundation? The texture of life is known to be held by molecules and their chemical-physical laws, yet a thorough elucidation of the aforementioned questions still stands as a puzzling challenge for science. Focusing solely on molecules and their laws has indirectly consolidated, in the scientific knowledge, a mechanistic (reductionist) perspective of biology and medicine. This occurred throughout the long historical path of experimental science, affecting subsequently the onset of the many theses and speculations about the origin of life and its maintenance. Actually, defining what is life, asks for a novel epistemology, a ground on which living systems’ organization, whose origin is still questioned via chemistry, physics and even philosophy, may provide a new key to focus onto the complex nature of the human being. In this scenario, many issues, such as the role of information and water structure, have been long time neglected from the theoretical basis on the origin of life and marginalized as a kind of scenic backstage. On the contrary, applied science and technology went ahead on considering molecules as the sole leading components in the scenery. Water physics and information dynamics may have a role in living systems much more fundamental than ever expected. Can an organism be simply explained by a mechanistic view of its nature or we need “something else”? Probably, we can earn sound foundations about life by simply changing our prejudicial view about living systems simply as complex, highly ordered machines. In this manuscript we would like to reappraise many fundamental aspects of molecular and chemical biology and reading them through a new paradigm, which includes Prigogine’s dissipative structures and informational dissipation (Shannon dissipation). This would provide readers with insightful clues about how biology and chemistry may be thoroughly revised, referring to new models, such as informational dissipation. We trust they are enabled to address a straightforward contribution in elucidating what life is for science. This overview is not simply a philosophical speculation, but it would like to affect deeply our way to conceive and describe the foundations of organisms’ life, providing intriguing suggestions for readers in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Salvatore Chirumbolo
- Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-0458027645
| | - Antonio Vella
- Verona-Unit of Immunology, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata, 37134 Verona, Italy;
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