1. Carbon is the foundational atom for nearly all the biomolecules necessary for Life. Despite their essential role for living systems, none of these organic molecules is alive. Despite being composed of dead parts, only the cell lives. Lacking the cell’s metabolic pathways, these biomolecules can neither produce their own energy nor replicate – two of Life’s basic requirements.
2. As the energy currency of living systems, ATP is certainly one of the most important biomolecules. The primary function of the cell’s energy production process is recharging ATP molecules. This entails adding a single phosphate group to ADP, a biomolecule with two phosphate groups. When this third phosphate group breaks off, the potential energy stored in its chemical bonds is transformed into kinetic energy. The cell employs this kinetic energy to organize its metabolic pathways with the purpose of surviving and thriving.
The potential energy stored in ATP is employed to serve the whole cell over time. Matter’s logic as described by Calculus has neither a holistic nor a temporal sense. Attention’s logic as described by DSD has both.
3. ATP consists of Adenosine plus 3 Phosphate Groups. Found independently in cells, Adenosine regulates many living functions, including sleep and our heart rate. When caffeine binds with adenosine it inhibits these regulatory functions – producing the illusion of energy.
Adenosine consists of two other important biomolecules, Adenine and Ribose. Adenine is one of the four nucleobases that make up DNA. Ribose is the R of RNA, hence an essential ingredient in gene decoding and expression.
Phosphate groups, the final ingredient in ATP, provide DNA and RNA with vital structure. These phosphate groups also provide the polarity that determines boundaries – inside and outside – Us and Them. Finally they play a key role in energy production and storage.
4. The aforementioned ribose, while having equivalent content to glucose, has an entirely different function. For instance, ribose is instrumental in utilizing the chemical energy stored in glucose. This difference in function is determined by a difference in molecular structure. When it synthesizes these biomolecules, the cell infuses their structure with differing information which determines their differing functions. In addition to storing energy in the chemical bonds of its biomolecules, the cell also stores information in the structure of these biomolecules.
1. Living Cells composed of Dead Biomolecules?
3. Deconstructing the ATP Molecule
4. Ribose & Glucose: Same Content; Different Structure & Function
Carbon, as the glue of Life, is a key ingredient in the millions of biomolecules that are essential for the operation of every living system. Although required for Life, are biomolecules alive?
Many mistakenly believe that the contents of a cell are alive. Because the cell is living, its biomolecules must also be alive. Although certainly a reasonable assumption, it is wrong. Before moving forward, let us dispel this common misconception.
Although charged/energized with solar energy, every biomolecule is dead/inanimate. This is true no matter how complicated it is. There is no such thing as an animate biomolecule. While cells are animate, its parts are not alive.
This is one reason that the biochemical community believes that they have disproved vitalism, the theory that Life and Matter have fundamental differences. Inappropriately applying reductionist reasoning to a holistic system, they assume that the parts determine the nature of the whole. More specifically, there is biological consensus that the cell’s inanimate parts determine its nature. If the biomolecules consistently obey the laws the chemistry, then the cell, hence all life forms, are purely chemical in nature.
However, as developed through these many pages, this conventional chemical paradigm has yet to account for the cell’s holistic behavior, temporal sense and her ability to monitor and adjust to dynamic circumstances. Further due to this fundamental mismatch, material explanations along with their mathematics will never be able to provide any explanatory power for Life’s holistic behavior.
Despite these inherent limitations, scientists employ increasingly messy and convoluted explanations in their attempt to put a round peg into a square hole - an ugliness that Copernicus would have abhorred. No matter how complex and intricate the mathematical or theoretical rationalization: Ptolemaic geocentric astronomy cannot replace Copernican heliocentric astronomy; caloric substance cannot replace immaterial energy; gravity’s action at a distance cannot replace electromagnetic fields; and for our purposes, an atomistic material explanation cannot replace a holistic information-based explanation regarding what makes Life special.
One of the most important ‘inanimate’ compounds for living systems is ATP. This amazing biomolecule provides the bioenergy for all life forms.
Our articles regularly reference Life’s bioenergy. How does potential and kinetic energy apply to the biology of living systems? ATP molecules, the energy currency of living systems, are akin to rechargeable batteries. It takes kinetic energy to charge these batteries – pushing energy uphill. After it has been recharged, the ATP molecule is filled with potential energy. The cell employs this potential energy to power its many mutually interdependent metabolic pathways.
The charging process is not as simple as plugging a device into an appropriate outlet. Rather every cell has a specialized organelle, i.e. mitochondria, that performs this function. The sole function of mitochondria is to recharge ATP molecules.
This essential superstar biomolecule is the biological energy carrier that, amongst other vital functions, provides energy for moving our muscles. How does ATP perform its magic?
Three phosphate groups (tri-phosphate) bond with adenosine to form ATP. The ATP molecule stores potential energy in these chemical bonds. When a phosphate group breaks off, this potential energy is converted to kinetic energy that our Body employs to do biological work, e.g. a muscle contraction.
Spending an ATP molecule entails losing a phosphate group, which releases energy. When ATP gives up its stored energy by losing a phosphate group, it becomes an ADP molecule, i.e. only two phosphate groups. This is the molecule that must be recharged to be useful to the cell and by extension every other living organism. Recharging the ADP molecule entails adding back the phosphate group that was lost, thereby transforming the relatively useless ADP molecule into a useful and charged ATP molecule.
In terms of energy, the cell is regularly storing energy (potential) and employing this stored energy (kinetic) to organize inanimate biomolecules. Sometimes this stored energy is employed to do physical work (moving things around – active transport). Other times, it is converted to another form of stored energy (glucose to ATP). Regardless of which process, which metabolic pathway is taken, all of these energy conversions occur to serve the cell.
Energy Conversion to serve Cell
In service of the entire living system, the cycles of energy conversion are holistic in nature. Further, the steps and the conversions have a specific order that occurs over time. Fat as a source of bioenergy might be stored for years, even decades. These energy conversions are not random. This time specificity requires a temporal sense.
Matter’s mathematical logic, as revealed by Calculus, has neither of these capabilities. Attention’s mathematical logic, as revealed by Data Stream Dynamics (DSD), has both talents.
Energy Conversion is Holistic & Temporal, not Random
Matter’s Logic = Calculus ≠ Neither Holistic Nor Temporal
Attention’s Logic = Data Stream Dynamics à Both Holistic & Temporal
Due to ATP’s importance to Life, let’s deconstruct this complex, high energy biomolecule. ATP stands for adenosine tri-phosphate.
ATP = Adenosine + 3 Phosphate Groups
Adenosine is a chemical found in cells. This important biomolecule performs many important functions, including helping to regulate our natural rhythms, such as sleep and heart rate. Adenosine performs its function by inducing sleepiness and decreasing our heart rate.
As a brief aside, caffeine is so similar to adenosine that it binds with it. This binding process blocks adenosine’s ability to bond with other molecules, thereby decreasing our natural sleepiness and increasing our heart rate. This dual action provides the illusion that we have more energy. In reality, caffeine by blocking adenosine has only interrupted our natural rhythms.
Adenosine regulates Natural rhythms, such as Sleep cycle & Heart Rate
Adenosine regulates by inducing Sleepiness & decreasing Heart Rate.
Adenosine + Caffeine = Less Sleepiness + Faster Heart Rate
By interrupting Natural Rhythms, Caffeine > Feeling More Energy
Adenosine is composed of two important bio-molecules – Adenine and Ribose.
Adenosine = Adenine + Ribose
Adenine (C5N5O5) is one of DNA’s four nucleobases. These four nucleobases are the building blocks of the genes that influence, not determine, our physical development and behavior. No genetic determinism here. Gene expression can both be activated and blocked by environmental stimuli – the essence of parenting – nurture positive tendencies and discourage negative tendencies.
Ribose, the other component of adenosine, is essential for life. The naturally-occurring form of ribose is a component of the ribonucleotides from which RNA is built. As such, this compound is necessary for coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes.
Adenosine is just one of the two super-duper bio-molecules in the even more amazingly complex ATP molecule. The other bio-molecule is tri-phosphate, i.e. three phosphate groups.
A phosphate group is fairly simple – a phosphorus atom bound to four oxygen atoms (PO43-). Although chemically simple, it has many important roles. Along with sugars and bases, it makes up nucleic acids, like DNA and RNA, providing them with essential structure.
Phosphate groups also provide the cellular membrane with polarity. Blocking molecules from coming and going randomly, this charge helps to establish inside and outside – the basis of Self and Other.
In addition to these important roles, phosphate groups are also instrumental in the storage and production of bioenergy, as we saw in the prior section. When one of the phosphate groups breaks from an ATP molecule for one reason or another, the potential energy stored in the chemical bonds is converted to kinetic energy. The cell employs this kinetic energy to do the work of organizing inanimate molecules in service of the whole. Further this process occurs over time.
Indulge me, while I express my amazement at how the cell organizes relatively simple content into an incredibly complex structure to produce energy. The cell somehow synthesizes high energy/high info biomolecules from simple everyday elements contained in air. The structure of these biomolecules is perfectly designed to perform specific tasks related to energy production. While the content is simple and readily available, the structure is so complex that Science has yet to accomplish this feat that each of our cells performs every instant of every day for billions of years.
Bow down and praise the Divine Source that created the cell’s irreducible complexity! Sorry. Getting carried away again.
Ribose and Glucose are two of those special biomolecules. Recall that Ribose is one of two molecules that makes up adenosine, which is a key component of the famous ATP molecule, the ‘A’ of ATP. Glucose is synthesized during photosynthesis. Solar energy is converted to bioenergy stored in the glucose molecule. Glycolysis transfers the energy stored in glucose into ATP. The potential energy stored in glucose is transferred to ATP, which contains ribose. Accordingly, both biomolecules are essential ingredients in the cell’s energy producing process.
Solar Energy > Glucose > ATP (contains Ribose)
Ribose (C5H10O5) is very similar to Glucose. In fact, the only real difference is that Ribose is a 5-carbon molecule, i.e. a pentose sugar, while Glucose (C6H12O6) is a 6-carbon molecule, i.e. a hextose sugar. Rather than their content, it is structure that distinguishes these molecules. One is a carbon pentagon, the other a carbon hexagon. So little, yet these seemingly trivial structural differences mean so much.
In addition to ATP, Ribose is also a molecular component of RNA, hence involved in the business of gene replication and expression. Not to be outdone by her sister, Glucose is central to the energy-producing capabilities of every cell, hence every life form on our planet (in the Universe?) Produced by photosynthesis from sunlight, Glucose is the fuel of the cellular respiration process that recharges ATP molecules, the energy currency of virtually every living system. In brief, the biomolecule stores solar energy in its chemical bonds (potential energy). When released, the kinetic energy recharges the molecules that power every living system.
Both of our extraordinary biomolecules, i.e. glucose and ribose, only consist of three irreducible elements, i.e. carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Although containing the same content, glucose and ribose have very different, yet complementary functions regarding ATP. Glucose provides the energy to recharge ATP, which contains ribose as one of its components.
Ribose is also a component of RNA, which provides the instructions on how to build the metabolic pathways that both synthesize and deconstruct glucose. Further the ATP molecule provides the energy to perform these functions. Glucose, ribose, and ATP are mutually interdependent; this trinity of molecules is codependent. Each of the three is essential for the very existence of each other.
Which of the triplets came first to set the stage for their siblings? This question makes the binary ‘chicken or egg first’ riddle look elementary in comparison.
Yet we have already exposed many of these origination mysteries regarding the cell. With these remaining paragraphs, I want to express my awe at the power of organization.
While the content of our two sister molecules (ribose and glucose) is the same, i.e. hydrogen, oxygen and carbon, their organization is different enough that it enables separate functions.
The cell’s metabolic pathways infuse these relatively simple, low energy molecules (hydrogen, oxygen and carbon) with information. This infusion of info energy transforms these elementary atoms into more complex, high energy biomolecules (glucose and ribose).
Simple, Low energy Atoms + Info Energy > Complex, High energy Biomolecules
Information is equated with energy. More information stored in the chemical bonds means more energy. The glucose molecule has far more energy, hence information, stored in its bonds, than do the individual atoms it consists of (carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen).
Rather than only energy, this additional information also concerns function. The information stored in glucose’s additional carbon molecule turns it into an energy storage vessel. Lacking this additional molecular information, ribose’s primary function as an essential ingredient of RNA is to pass on info from DNA to create the genetic blueprints that enable Life. One is the carrier of bio-energy, the other is the carrier of bio-instructions. The content, while exceedingly similar, is overshadowed by structure.
Same content, Different Structure
Glucose = Bioenergy carrier
Ribose = Bio-instructions carrier
Wow! The intimate synergistic relationship between these two sister molecules awes me. Wow again!
Living energy is living information. Again bioenergy is required to employ bio-information. And bio-info is required to create bioenergy.
Bioenergy required to employ Bio-info
Bio-info required to create Bioenergy
Which came first – the disposable bioenergy or the bio-info? I’m dizzy with amazement. Hopefully no more crashes into stationary objects (a parked car) in the midst of my awe and wonder at the interconnected miracle of Life!