The book presents the first comprehensive molecular theory of the living cell ever published since the cell doctrine was formulated in 1838-1839. It introduces into cell biology over thirty key concepts, principles and laws imported from physics, chemistry, computer science, linguistics, semiotics and philosophy. The author formulates physically, chemically and enzymologically realistic molecular mechanisms to account for basic living processes such as ligand-receptor interactions, enzymic catalysis, force-generating mechanisms in molecular motors, chromatin remodelling, and signal transduction. Possible solutions to basic and practical problems facing contemporary biology and biomedical sciences have been suggested, including pharmacotherapeutics and personalized medicine.

In late 1971 we were involved in a study of the interaction of radiation with matter and were trying to use measurements of radiation fluorescence in biological molecules to indicate how radiation affected living cells. It soon became apparent that we were working in the dark; the doses we used to get a significant signal were too large to be of interest for radiation biology and although the DNA molecule appeared to be the most likely target molecule we did not know which sort of events and which sort oflesions were the most important. We decided to alter our approach to see if we could find any consistent mathematical order in the radiobiological dose relationships. We found that cell survival curves could be very usefully described by a linear-quadratic dose relationship and very soon came to the somewhat premature but, as it turned out, most effective conclusion that the induction of DNA double strand breaks should be linear-quadratic. In deciding that the DNA double strand break was the crucial and all-important lesion we were able to associate the mathematical analysis with the biology of the cell and were able to relate known properties of the DNA molecule to known radiobiological effects. On the other hand, we were restricted and brought, from an abstract two-hit lesion which could have any property one wished, down to earth, to a defined moleccular structure of nanometer dimensions and well-known functions and properties.

This book represents the results of 45 years of research on a wide range of topics, including atomic physics, single-molecule enzymology, whole-cell metabolism, physiology, pharmacology, linguistics, semiotics, and cosmology. It describes the first comprehensive molecular theory of the genotype-phenotype coupling based on two key theoretical concepts: (i) the conformon, the conformational wave packet in biopolymers carrying both the free energy and genetic information; and (ii) the intracellular dissipative structures, the chemical concentration waves inside the cell that serve as the immediate drivers of all cell functions. Conformons provide the driving forces for all molecular machines in the cell, and intracellular dissipative structures coordinate intra- and intercellular processes such as gene expression and cell-cell communications. One of the predictions made by the cell language theory (CLT) is that there are two forms of genetic information — the Watson–Crick genes transmitting information in time (identified with DNA), and the Prigoginian genes transmitting information in space (identified with RNA expression profiles). The former is analogous to sheet music or written language and the latter is akin to audio music or spoken language, both being coupled by conformons acting as the analog of the pianist. The new theory of DNA structure and function constructed on the basis of CLT can rationally account for most of the puzzling findings recently unearthed by the ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) project. The Cell Language Theory has important applications in biomedical sciences including drug discovery research and personalized medicine on the one hand and in the mind-body research and consciousness studies on the other. Contents: PrefaceAbout the AuthorAcknowledgementsIntroductionKey Terms and ConceptsThe BhopalatorCell LanguageMatrix Mathematics of GeneticsBiosemioticsApplications of the Cell Language Theory to Biomedical SciencesThe Universality of the Planckian Distribution EquationThe Universality of the Irreducible Triadic RelationThe Philosophical Implications of the Cell Language TheoryConclusionsReferencesAppendicesIndex Readership: Students, researchers and practitioners of the biomedical sciences and mind-body research and consciousness studies Keywords: Conformons;Cell Language Theory;Intracellular Dissipative Structures;Watson-Crick Gene;Prigoginian GeneReview:0

A Molecular Conception of Organisms and Neoplasms is a six-chapter thesis that consists of a chain of reasoning on the theory of molecular conception. This thesis contends that any organism, even if multicellular, is basically a single molecule, which is the key problem of the causation of neoplasms. After providing a unifying definition of a molecule, this book goes on discussing the concept of fundamental unicellularity of multicellular organism through protoplasmic continuity between its cells. The succeeding chapters highlight the principles of the molecular conception of organisms and neoplasms. The final chapters outline the other activities of an organism determined by the molecular conception theory, such as embryonic development, animal heat, movement, pleasure and pain, and mind. This book will be of value to biochemists and clinical chemists.

The subject of this book is the physico-chemical theory of the origin of life. Although this theory is still in statu nascendi, it has been developed in recent years to the point where a coherent presentation is possible. The book is intended as an introductory text for students of physics, chemistry or biology. This interdisciplinary aim has necessitated a choice of material based on the lowest common denominator of physicists and biologists. In particular, the predominantly mathematical and biological sections have been presented at the most elementary l.evel possible. The less mathematically inclined reader can omit Sections (5.3)-(5.5), (5.7)-(5.10), (6.2), (6.3), (9.1)-(9.3), (12.1) and (13.3) without losing the overall view. For critical reading of the manuscript, for discussions and for many useful suggestions I wish to thank M. Eigen (Gottingen), w.e. Gardiner (Austin), D. Porschke (Gottingen), P. Schuster (Vienna), P.R. Wills (Auckland) and P. Woolley (Berlin). The translation of the original, German manuscript into English was kindly undertaken by Paul Woolley. During this and subsequent stages of revision he introduced a great many improvements in the text and the presentation of material. My particular thanks are due to him for his decisive contribution to this book. Last of all I wish to thank Ingeborg Lechten for typing the text in its various stages of evolution. The completion of this book is largely to be attributed to her patience and efficiency.

"The difficulty of reconciling chemical mechanisms with the functions of whole living systems has plagued biologists since the development of cell theory in the nineteenth century. As Karl Matlin argues in Crossing the Boundaries of Life, it is no coincidence that this longstanding knot of scientific inquiry was loosened most meaningfully by the work of a cytologist, the Nobel laureate Günter Blobel. In 1975, using an experimental setup that did not contain any cells at all, Blobel was able to synthesize proteins to theorize how proteins in the cell communicate spatially, an idea he called signal hypothesis. Over the next 20 years, Blobel and other scientists were able to dissect this process into its precise molecular details. For elaborating his signal concept into a process he termed membrane topogenesis-the idea that each protein in the cell is synthesized with an "address" that directs the protein to its correct destination within the cell-Blobel was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1999. Matlin argues that Blobel's investigative strategy and its subsequent application addressed the fundamental unresolved dilemma that had bedeviled biology from its very beginning, allowing biology to overcome the barrier that had long blocked progress toward mechanistic explanations of life. Crossing the Boundaries of Life thus uses Blobel's research and life story to shed light on the importance of cell biology for twentieth-century science, illustrating how it propelled the development of adjacent disciplines like biochemistry and molecular biology"--