Growth and replication of living organisms. General law of growth and replication and the unity of biochemical and physical mechanisms
Publisher: AKVY Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Toronto, Canada
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 215
ISBN-13: 9780987778505
Description: This book is a continuation of previous studies of growth mechanisms by the same author. Results of earlier research have been published in books and scientific journals. This time, the growth mechanisms are considered both from the physical and biochemical perspectives. These two types of growth mechanisms form a single mechanism that governs the growth of living organisms. The findings relate and connect numerous aspects and specific features of growth and replication, which previously were considered as unrelated fragments, into a single growth and replication phenomenon governed by a general law of Nature.  It was discovered that the answer to the growth puzzle resides both in the physical and biochemical realms, with the leading role being played by the physical, spatial characteristics of organisms. Geometrical characteristics of an organism define the value of the growth ratio, which in turn defines the distribution of nutritional resources between the maintenance needs and the biomass synthesis. The fraction of nutritional resources diverted to the biomass synthesis defines the amount of synthesized biomass, and through this, the composition of biochemical reactions. Thus, during the growth, combined changes in organism’s geometry and related changes of influx of nutrients influence the composition of biochemical reactions in such a way that organisms progress through the whole growth cycle. The material is well presented. Any person interested in the subject and familiar with the basics of physics and biology will understand the presented concepts and the whole content, which is much facilitated by numerous graphical illustrations and numerical examples.
Table of contents: title: Table of Contents; title: Acknowledgements	9; title: About the author	10; title: Prehistory of the research and other thoughts	11; title: Introduction	12; title: Chapter 1. Growth as a complex multifactor phenomenon governed by laws of Nature	16; title: 1.1. How we cognize Nature. General methodological concepts	16; title: 1.2. Some ancient perceptions of growth	18; title: 1.3. Modern views on growth	21; title: 1.4. Growth is a multifactor and general phenomenon that requires a multidisciplinary approach	22; title: Chapter 2. Growth of living organisms from the evolutionary perspective	25; title: 2.1. Growth and replication as evolutionary components	25; title: 2.2. How numbers and Nature’s laws create order from chaos	26; title: 2.3. Competition for resources as an evolution driving force	29; title: Chapter 3. Biochemical growth mechanisms	31; title: 3.1. Examples and common features of biochemical growth mechanisms	31; title: 3.1.1. Mammalian cells	33; title: 3.1.2. Polar gradients of kinase Pom1	34; title: Chapter 4. Physical and biochemical growth mechanisms and their mathematical representations	36; title: 4.1. Mathematical formulation of the physical growth mechanism	37; title: 4.1.1. Specific influx and its dependence on the growth phase	37; title: 4.1.2. Introducing growth ratio and growth equation	39; title: 4.1.3. Generalized growth law	43; title: 4.2. How much to grow? Some inferences from the growth equation	45; title: 4.3. Growth rates of different cell’s constituents	47; title: 4.3.1. Mathematical relationship between growth rate and mass increase	47; title: 4.3.2. Ribosome rate of synthesis	48; title: 4.3.3. Relationship of rate of synthesis and influx	51; title: 4.3.4. Biochemistry of growing amoeba	56; title: 4.3.5. Finding specific influx through the rates of synthesis of biochemical components	58; title: 4.3.6. Additional nutrient requirements to support the growing cell’s “infrastructure”	59; title: 4.4. Full cycle growth. Amoeba’s example	63; title: 4.4.1. Review of experimental data on amoeba growth	63; title: 4.4.2. Finding the asymptotic value of the maximum possible volume	65; title: 4.4.3. Finding growth ratio and computing growth curves	68; title: 4.4.4. Accounting for the additional nutrient influx required for DNA synthesis	73; title: 4.4.5. Amoeba’s division mechanism	74; title: 4.4.6. Application of growth equation. Why the growth rate is the highest at the beginning?	82; title: 4.4.7. Application of the growth equation. Why can the same cells grow small and large?	83; title: 4.4.8. Inflection points of the growth curves as potential growth stoppers	85; title: 4.4.9. Validity of growth equation’s in light of results on modeling growth of amoeba	86; title: 4.4.10. A side note about one old but well forgotten validation criterion	88; title: 4.5. The fastest growth scenario	90; title: 4.5.1. Inflection point of the growth curve as a trigger of division	90; title: 4.5.2. Modeling the growth of fission yeast using the growth equation	93; title: 4.5.3. Change of influx during growth	98; title: 4.5.4. Modeling the growth of wild type fission yeast. Additional influx for DNA synthesis	100; title: 4.5.5. Modeling the growth of   mutant	109; title: 4.5.6. Generality of the physical growth mechanism	116; title: 4.6. Relationship of the physical growth mechanism with metabolic flux analysis	117; title: 4.6.1. Growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae	117; title: 4.6.2. Biomass synthesis	127; title: 4.6.3. Sensitivity of methods for estimation of biomass production	131; title: 4.6.4. Growth of E. coli and biomass production	131; title: 4.6.5. S. cerevisiae as an example of how organisms provide fast growth	132; title: 4.7. Growth and reproduction of multicellular organisms	134; title: 4.8. Growth and reproduction as inherently multifactor phenomena	137; title: 4.8.1. Fragments and the Whole	137; title: 4.8.2. An integral view of the growth phenomenon. Distribution of resources	138; title: 4.8.3. The relationship between biomass production and the growth ratio	140; title: 4.8.4. Growth cycle progression as a consequence of changes of growth ratio and biomass production	142; title: Chapter 5. Growth mechanisms that are based on geometrical form of organisms	146; title: 5.1. Cells’ shape as a growth suppression factor	146; title: 5.2. A cylinder as one of the fastest growing geometrical forms	150; title: 5.3. Growth of embryonic cells in Drosophila. Geometrical growth suppression mechanism	151; title: 5.4. Growth suppression by cells’ elongation in the growth of blastocysts in pigs	155; title: Chapter 6. Properties of growth ratio. Organisms’ overgrowth through the form change	157; title: 6.1. Changing the growth ratio	157; title: 6.2. Correlation between the elongated shape and the growth rate	163; title: 6.3. Growth ratio conjecture	164; title: 6.4. Overgrowth and natural selection	167; title: 6.5. Principle of compartmentalization. Generalization of the physical growth mechanism	169; title: 6.5.1. Compartmentalization as an evolutionary developed  mechanism	169; title: 6.5.2. Using growth equation for reducing organisms and systems	170; title: 6.5.3. Generalization of growth law	171; title: 6.6. General growth law and evolutionary development	172; title: Chapter 7. Bioelectromagnetism as a driving force of growth and other biological processes	175; title: 7.1. General nature of electromagnetic mechanisms	175; title: 7.2. Electromagnetism as the driving force in energy generation and other biochemical processes	176; title: 7.3. Integrity of electrical properties of biological substances	177; title: Chapter 8. Systemic view of growth of living organisms	179; title: 8.1. The subject of systems biology	179; title: 8.2. Major areas of systems biology	181; title: Chapter 9. Growth and organization of populations of biological species	184; title: 9.1. Logistic growth curve. Classical approach	185; title: 9.2. Population growth of organisms that use only the fastest part of the growth curve	186; title: 9.3. Increase of populations with S-shaped growth curves for individual organisms	192; title: 9.4. Generalization of population growth equation	196; title: Conclusion	199; title: References	201; title: Index Table	207