On 5/6/05, Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The unselfish gene > > The new biology is reasserting the primacy of the whole organism - the > individual - over the behaviour of isolated genes > > Johnjoe McFadden > Friday May 6, 2005 > The Guardian [U.K.]
-------------------- Not much new here, I'm afraid; evo. theorists have been railing against gene-centricity etc. since George Williams 1966 classic "Adaptation and Natural Selection". McFadden's own preferred hypotheses are themselves extremely controversial, as he tries to bring quantum theory as crucial to understanding/explaining the origins of cells and a whole lot more: "The first target in our search for the quantum-classical border inside the cell will be a proton that is part of one of the cell's many proteins: a single molecule of the enzyme called beta-galactosidase. The enzyme looks rather like any other protein inside the cell: a tightly knotted bundle of amino acid rope made up of about 1000 amino acids. But this enzyme is currently inactive. Its job, when it is active, is to hydrolyse (react with water) the disaccharide milk sugar lactose, breaking into its two component bits: glucose and galactose. However, the human host to our E. coli cell has not drunk any milk since breakfast and it is now the middle of the night. The enzyme has nothing to do until the next batch of lactose arrives, along with the breakfast cereal, the next morning. Our cell has been without food for some time now and has exhausted its reserves. To conserve energy, it switches itself into a kind of hibernation state called dormancy, until the lactose arrives. Our information is that within the beta-galactosidase enzyme lies our target proton on one of the protein's amino acids. This proton (remember, a hydrogen nucleus) is attached to an oxygen atom within the amino acid molecule, by a covalent bond. Our sources also tell us that nearby lies a nitrogen atom which like the oxygen atom, is relatively electron rich and would like to capture our target proton. We will imagine that if our proton is supplied with enough energy then it might escape the pull of the oxygen atom's electrons and hop onto the nitrogen atom. In fact, we will suppose that calculations indicate that at body temperature the surrounding thermal energy gives the proton a 50% chance of hopping from one atom to another." <http://www.surrey.ac.uk/qe/C11.htm> <http://www.surrey.ac.uk/qe/> -- "C'mon Mr. Krinkle, tell me why" [Primus]
