One of the great mysteries facing science today is - is it possible that life on Earth began with a still collection of still molecules * A researcher from Caltech discovered the algorithm responsible for this
One of the great mysteries facing science today is - is it possible that life on Earth began with a still collection of molecules? According to Prof. Erik Winfree from the Department of Computing and Neural Systems at the California Institute of Technology, the basis of the answer lies in understanding the computational activity, the algorithm. That is, how a small amount of information is directed to the creation and organization of structures and behaviors.
In biological systems, the ability to create self-replicas (or in other words - reproduction) is actually a form of information processing. The developmental processes reflect the way in which concise genetic information is interpreted into a mature organism. How to concisely define complex objects is actually the question of the algorithm.
In nature, it seems that almost all the complexity and diversity of life, from viruses, bacteria, plants to the various animals and humans, and yes, all the biochemical pathways in the cells, the "blueprints" for the creation of the body and the creation of complex organs such as the brain - everything is encoded by DNA molecules. How does that happen?
According to Prof. Winfrey, research currently focuses on two main branches. One - molecular biology, a field that studies how the cell works, the way the information is received in the cells and how it is processed. The second - technological, theoretical, building systems that mimic biological systems, usually using mathematical models and computers. According to him, there are very few computational or applied models based on real molecular biochemistry, as it exists in nature ("biomolecular computation").
According to this approach of biomolecular computation, instead of trying to investigate in detail processes that occur in different organisms, Prof. Winfrey and his group take an engineering approach. That is, they try to build a system that will contain several basic components (that is, real molecules) and methods that will combine them into a system that can describe dynamic behavior. Throwing out of the world of computers, using a kind of "programming language" and a compiler.
In the article published in the journal Science, the researchers describe a system built by them, which is based on DNA molecules only. According to the system, it is possible to insert a specified number of molecules (input), which contain information. This information enables the creation of a product (output), i.e. new molecules. Later, speeding up additional reactions in a fast and significant way, when the driving force for the process arises from structural changes in the molecules (reactions driven by entropy), and enables the increase of the process. In this type of system it is possible to create different defined circuits, and with different degrees of complexity, depending on the "input" entered.
The researchers chose to use DNA molecules because they can be designed to be used for a variety of tasks, including, among other things, use as geometric structures, containing and processing information, chemical catalysts (catalysts), propulsion, and more. The basic reaction includes a DNA strand that is used as "fuel", three DNA strands that are a substrate, and a catalyst that enables the separation of the strands that are the output and signal products from the part related to them and that is a waste product. All the components in the system are DNA molecules, the interaction between them is based on a match between bases.
In living cells, the biochemical pathways are made possible and exist in a reliable and consistent manner, in an environment full of different chemical components. The uniqueness of the system built by Prof. Winfrey, his research student David Yu Zhang and their partners is that the biochemical circuits they designed based on DNA molecules can occur in an environment containing a mixture of many other macromolecules. This system can be used for the detection of biochemical signals and the development of nanotechnological tools based on DNA. In addition, it may bring us closer to understanding the principles underlying the existence of the processes in nature.
For the abstract of the scientific article in Science
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Dear Jonathan
I did not claim at any point in the previous response that RNA was formed spontaneously, so I do not understand why the article you sent (by the way, a very interesting article) should contradict my words. What I claim is that the self-replicating RNA molecule probably preceded the DNA molecule on the basis of which an RNA strand is built and from which a protein is translated. This is one of the steps in the molecular evolution of the DNA molecule. As the article nicely describes, apparently there were simpler systems that preceded the formation of the RNA molecule.
If the commenter above me is Prof. Aharon Chachanover and not some impostor, then you should take a look at Prof. Robert Shapiro's article in issue 31 of Scientific American:
http://clickit3.ort.org.il/Apps/WW/Page.aspx?ws=85a7134d-1c7c-4582-8621-cd2748720225&page=fb76dffb-ac17-4243-a91b-410ff1a3497e&box=5bbd9e16-fbe1-4e1a-bb53-578ae0872339&_pstate=item&_item=1a99b52d-2990-4266-be56-c491f34c1467
to the cool responder
One of the properties of RNA is that, in addition to its role as a template for building the protein, there are RNA sequences with catalytic activity (for example, the ribosome core). This means that a certain RNA sequence can, because of its specific spatial structure, behave like an enzyme and perform various activities in the cell. So we have an RNA molecule that contains certain information, is able to perform various actions on other RNA molecules and is able to replicate them and itself. One of the theories for the formation of life claims that initially RNA molecules were formed that had the ability to self-replicate (independent of proteins or other substances) and only later were these primary cells created, DNA-based creatures in which most of the cellular activity is carried out through proteins.
Dear Jonathan
I trusted the readers to understand on their own that I woke up at some point from the morning sleep that fell on me (this happens most mornings lately) and I sat down to write the comment!
But I understand that it presses you at the point of the desire of the DNA and the molecule and beyond! Note that I did not rule out the existence of super will! And not that I believe in his existence... but that you must think and want and believe that God is involved in every stage of the creation of life and in general in everything in life!
I would add to my response before I go to sleep because I hope that in the future they will study the DNA from the point of desire and as I mentioned in brackets in my previous response it is an impulse that can be quantified and created...therefore in the future if they manage to create the "impulse" in different strengths and forms and make the DNA begin to move...the DNA will carry out its will The researchers will begin to develop things that they planned!
It will be interesting. Golden dreams!
Led. The honorable burst
From your words it appears that you wrote the comment while you were sleeping, since it does not say that you woke up afterward. Well done! How did you do it?
Suppose there is DNA or RNA or what ever.
How can this information nucleus build a cell? Don't you need a lot of complex enzymes and oxygen and minerals and vitamins and a lot of nonsense so that the cell can replicate itself? (or in our case to prepare himself)
Good and interesting article. Thanks!
This morning before I fell back asleep I asked myself if Dana has a will? Can he have a will? Is he allowed to have a desire? Because if Dana has a will of his own...maybe he won't sometimes feel like doing some kind of action? Then the whole body built from it will collapse!
On the other hand, maybe the desire for these sizes is different from what we know and exists in other strengths and ways? And so perhaps the desire of the DNA creates the molecule which in turn with its desire (an impulse that can be quantified and created) creates the tissue ..and so on until the creation of his biological body already has a greater desire than the sum total of all the desires of its components!!
It popped up in my mind following thoughts on the previous article from the 27th of the beginning of life from a liquid crystal.. but this article seems appropriate to me as well!
So this algorithm can be called "the initial impulse to create life" and a biological desire!!
And maybe our desire also has an algorithm that represents it? Complicated and more complex of course!
By the way, with an algorithm of desire, it will be possible to animate virtual characters as presenting reality without telling them what to go where and how to do, that is, without a script, but live! And not only humans but also animals like a cat for example...we will try to check what twenty cats will do together? But actually the first question will be do they know each other? And are there any family ties between them, etc., and thus to build the virtual saga, the cat telenovela, that just a click of a button will stop or start it from the point where it ended without us knowing where it will lead, etc.