The Touchstone of Life: Molecular Information, Cell Communication, and the Foundations of LifeOxford University Press, 1999 M01 7 - 384 páginas No one can escape a sense of wonder when looking at an organism from within. From the humblest amoeba to man, from the smallest cell organelle to the amazing human brain, life presents us with example after example of highly ordered cellular matter, precisely organized and shaped to perform coordinated functions. But where does this order spring from? How does a living organism manage to do what nonliving things cannot do--bring forth and maintain all that order against the unrelenting, disordering pressures of the universe? In The Touchstone of Life, world-renowned biophysicist Werner Loewenstein seeks answers to these ancient riddles by applying information theory to recent discoveries in molecular biology. Taking us into a fascinating microscopic world, he lays bare an all-pervading communication network inside and between our cells--a web of extraordinary beauty, where molecular information flows in gracefully interlaced circles. Loewenstein then takes us on an exhilarating journey along that web and we meet its leading actors, the macromolecules, and see how they extract order out of the erratic quantum world; and through the powerful lens of information theory, we are let in on their trick, the most dazzling of magician's acts, whereby they steal form out of formlessness. The Touchstone of Life flashes with fresh insights into the mystery of life. Boldly straddling the line between biology and physics, the book offers a breathtaking view of that hidden world where molecular information turns the wheels of life. Loewenstein makes these complex scientific subjects lucid and fascinating, as he sheds light on the most fundamental aspects of our existence. |
Contenido
PART TWO INFORMATION FLOW INSIDE CELLS | 111 |
PART THREE INFORMATION FLOW BETWEEN CELLS | 165 |
PART FOUR THE SCIENCE OF THE PECULIAR | 323 |
Epilogue | 335 |
Appendix A Brief Chronicle of Information | 337 |
Recommended Reading | 341 |
References | 344 |
Index | 360 |
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
The Touchstone of Life: Molecular Information, Cell Communication, and the ... Werner R. Loewenstein Vista previa limitada - 1999 |
The Touchstone of Life: Molecular Information, Cell Communication, and the ... Werner R. Loewenstein Vista previa limitada - 1999 |
The Touchstone of Life: Molecular Information, Cell Communication, and the ... Werner R. Loewenstein Sin vista previa disponible - 2000 |
Términos y frases comunes
adaptors allosteric amino acids atoms basic bilayer billion biological bonds calcium calcium ions catalytic cell membrane cell-cell channels cellular chemical Circus codon cognitive coherence complementary conservation cosmic covalent bonds cules cybernetic cyclic AMP cytoplasmic demon deterministic domain double helix electric electromagnetic electrons encoding energy entropy enzyme equilibrium eventually evolution evolutionary exons feedback Figure flux force function gene genetic growth hormone hormone message information flow information loop information transfer interaction intercellular communication intron lipid macromolecules macroscopic mation Maxwell demons mechanism mole molecular information molecules multiplex mutations neuronal nucleotide organismic organization pair particles phosphate photons physics polypeptide population principle protein quantum quantum coherence random reaction realm receptor replication retransmitter selection sequence signal sort space stage steroid strategy structure substrate subunits syncretic template theory thermodynamic thermodynamic equilibrium things three-dimensional tion transcription transmission units
Pasajes populares
Página 148 - There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.
Página 4 - But if we conceive a being whose faculties are so sharpened that he can follow every molecule in its course, such a being, whose attributes are still as essentially finite as our own, would be able to do what is at present impossible to us.
Página 94 - ... man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his godlike intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system—with all these exalted powers — Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.
Página 50 - Newton was not the first of the age of reason. He was the last of the magicians, the last of the Babylonians and Sumerians, the last great mind which looked out on the visible and intellectual world with the same eyes as those who began to build our intellectual inheritance rather less than 10,000 years ago.
Página 103 - On the other hand, we may feel sure that any variation in the least degree injurious would be rigidly destroyed. This preservation of favorable individual differences and variations, and the destruction of those which are injurious, I have called Natural Selection, or the Survival of the Fittest...
Página 118 - If the actual order of the bases on one of the pair of chains were given, one could write down the exact order of the bases on the other one, because of the specific pairing. Thus one chain is, as it were, the complement of the other, and it is this feature which suggests how the deoxyribonucleic acid molecule might duplicate itself.
Página 4 - Now let us suppose that such a vessel is divided into two portions, A and B, by a division in which there is a small hole, and that a being, who can see the individual molecules, opens and closes this hole, so as to allow only the swifter molecules to pass from A to B, and only the slower ones to pass from B to A. He will thus, without expenditure of work, raise the temperature of B and lower that of A, in contradiction to the second law of thermodynamics.
Página 140 - WANT The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find.
Página 120 - Now our model for deoxyribonucleic acid is, in effect, a pair of templates, each of which is complementary to the other. We imagine that prior to duplication the hydrogen bonds are broken, and the two chains unwind and separate.
Página 131 - UCU Ser UCC Ser UCA Ser UCG Ser CCU Pro CCC Pro CCA Pro CCG Pro ACU Thr ACC Thr ACA Thr ACG Thr GCU Ala GCC Ala GCA Ala GCG Ala...