Nobel Prizes were awarded this year to scientists who helped found a new branch of science, which attempts to understand life in terms of the complex array of interactions between the whole animal and its parts - systemic biology
When you look at the discoveries that won Nobel Prizes for six scientists from around the world about a month ago, it seems that it is an eclectic collection of scientific discoveries, but in fact there is a deep connection between them. The prizes were awarded to scientists from the United States, Great Britain, Switzerland and Japan. In the committee's reasoning, it was recorded that the prize for chemistry was awarded to John Penn and Koichi Tanaka for "a new method for mass spectroscopy", and to Kurt Wittrich for "structure determination using nuclear magnetic resonance". In the field of medicine and physiology, the prize was awarded to John Salston, Robert Hurwitz and Sidney Brenner for "genetic control of organ development".
A person is made up of about a billion billion billion atoms - a number represented by the number 1 followed by 27 zeros. This enormous number of structural units is also found in a block of rock or a barrel of water of similar weight. But in a clear difference from the inanimate objects, the atoms in the human body form a complicated and dynamic network of mutual reactions, which is the basis of the phenomenon of life. Recently, a new branch of science was founded that tries to understand life in terms of the complex array of interrelationships between the whole animal and its parts - atoms, parts and cells. The innovative field is called systems biology, and it seems that this year's Nobel Prizes were awarded to the scientists who helped found it.
Living things are mainly composed of six types of atoms - carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur - a group known as CHNOPS according to the letters indicating these elements. These atoms are capable of creating an almost infinite number of chemical combinations known as organic molecules, i.e. organic molecules. But all in all, including a wide variety of animals of this kind, it still does not deserve the title "living creature". By analogy, if we throw a few tens of thousands of people randomly selected from the world's population onto an isolated island, we will not necessarily get a society capable of functioning and existence. Just as social bonds and a shared language are essential to the existence of a well-functioning human society, so the ability of animals to respond to each other is the most important aspect of the phenomenon known as life. The "language" in which one organic frog "speaks" with its friends is the language of weak chemical reactions. This is in a clear difference from the strong chemical bonds (called covalent) that connect atoms for the purpose of building each individual part. Above a certain threshold of complexity, an organic cell is able to "recognize" other cells, just as a lock recognizes its corresponding key. In a living cell, a multi-dialogue is actually created, in which animals can move dynamically between one partner and another, while creating diverse mutual effects.
One of the distinct characteristics of systems biology is multidisciplinarity. To try to understand the whole complex of a living being, a scientist must master many aspects of chemistry, physics, mathematics, computing, biology and medicine. Nobel Prizes were awarded this year for discoveries in the field of chemistry, but for studies that also have a distinct combination of physics and mathematics, and whose main application is in biology. For example, Tanaka's discovery regarding mass spectrography was that the giant particles of proteins can be evaporated with the help of a laser beam and irradiated in an electric field in a way that allows their precise identification. In this way, a parallel analysis of thousands of different proteins included in a living cell can be done in a short time, an ability that is an essential element in systemic biology. The importance of the method is even greater due to further development, where it is used to identify hundreds of thousands of genetic differences between humans.
Wittrich's chemical development is also based on a physical effect - nuclear magnetic resonance. Here, tiny energy changes in the atomic nucleus are monitored, which reflect the atom's participation in a certain chemical bond. This method, which also has a significant mathematical component, has a wide range of applications, including organ mapping in medicine. In the present case, the effect is used to examine the way in which the thousands of atoms that make up a protein form a defined spatial configuration. This way you can learn about the structures of the biological "locks" and predict which "keys" will fit them. This is therefore a very important tool for understanding the set of reactions between dogs in a living entity.
Systemic biology is built layer by layer. With the help of measurements of atomic nuclei, we learn about the reaction between atoms and atoms. The list of all protein complexes in a living cell, achieved by mass spectroscopy, allows scientists to draw an approximate flow chart of the processes in the cell. Such a diagram includes thousands of chemical reactions that allow the cell to build itself according to the plan recorded in the DNA and even reproduce and create organs. At the highest level in the hierarchy is one of the most intriguing secrets of biology - the way cells communicate with each other to build a complete organism. This process is the enabler
For a single cell, the fertilized egg, to create a perfect body in all its parts, including brain, sense organs, muscles and bones.
The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to scientists who played a central role in understanding these processes. Although the award letter would suggest that Brenner, Selston, and Horvitz studied embryonic development in humans, this is not the case. If a scientist in the know is asked what and why the scientists received the prize for medicine, his surprising answer will be "due to the worm". It is a tiny creature, as thick as a hair and a millimeter long, that was used for revolutionary research in the field of embryonic development. It was Brenner who pointed out the advantages of a worm
The nematode (also known as C. elegans) as a model animal for research. Selston showed that it was possible to number each of her cells and find out precisely the way in which it was formed in successive cell divisions. Horvitz showed that the findings are also applicable in human embryos.
Brenner and Celeston were also honored for another reason: they both played a central role in the World Genome Project. Under Celeston's wand, the entire genome of the nematode is deciphered. It turned out that the number of genes in the worm's genome is only about 40% less than that in the human genome. This is despite the fact that in terms of the number of cells, man is a thousand billion times greater. We can learn from this that when it comes to systemic biology, size does not matter. It seems that the way in which the different layers of a multicellular creature can be studied does not change significantly between a worm and a person. It is even possible that with the same methods it will be possible to understand the tiny chemical networks that led billions of years ago to the appearance of life on Earth. All the researcher needs is a generous dose of patience, imagination and courage, and to step on the boundary lines between the disciplines. Thus, apparently, science will arrive by the end of this century to the complete deciphering of the secret of life.
