The principles of life / Tibor Gánti ; with commentary by James Griesemer and Eörs Szathmáry.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gánti, Tibor.

Contributor:

Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Life (Biology).

Biochemistry.

Physical Description:

xviii, 201 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.

Summary:

Professor Ganti describes in accessible language his chief insight about the organization of living systems in this new presentation of his theory of the chemical automaton. The simplest 'chemoton' model of life consists of three coupled subsystems: an autocatalytic metabolism, a genetic molecule and a membrane. Ganti's chemical perspective captures the fundamentally cyclic organization of the living state, offers a fresh approach to the ancient problem of 'life criteria,' and articulates a philosophy of the units of life applicable to genetics, chemistry, evolutionary biology, and 'exact theoretical biology.'

Contents:

1 Levels of life and death 1

1.2 Explanation of some of the basic concepts 2

1.3 The minimal system of life: the chemoton 3

1.4 Life at the prokaryotic level 6

1.5 Life at the animal level 7

1.6 Between and beyond 9

2 The nature of life 11

2.1 It would be useful to know what we are looking for 11

2.2 Fluid machines 16

2.3 Order in the nothing 19

2.4 And who is the constructor? 23

2.5 Chemotons 29

2.6 Chemotons of the primordial Earth 36

2.7 The birth of primordial texts 42

2.8 We crossed the 'finish line' 51

3 The unitary theory of life 55

3.1 Exact sciences 55

3.2 The units of life 58

3.3 Sets and systems 63

3.4 Function and stability 68

3.5 The criteria of life 74

3.5.1 Real (absolute) life criteria 76

3.5.2 Potential life criteria 78

3.6 Subsystems of the living cell 81

3.7 The chemical motor 85

3.8 Growing systems 95

3.9 Chemical systems multiplying by division 101

3.10 The chemoton 107

3.11 Life at the chemoton level 111

3.12 Computer simulation of the function of chemotons 115

3.13 Chemoton theory involves the principles of soft automata 120

3.14 Chemoton theory involves some basic laws of genetics 124

3.15 Chemoton theory involves an explication of the origin of life 132

3.16 Chemoton theory involves the strategy of the synthesis of living systems 140

3.17 Chemoton theory involves the possibility of an exact theoretical biology 147

3.18 The responsibility of the biologist 152

4 The biological significance of Ganti's work in 1971 and today / Eors Szathmary 157

4.1 Annus mirabilis 1971: Eigen and Ganti 157

4.2 Life criteria: units of evolution and units of life 158

4.3 Ganti's concept and some other definitions of life 160

4.4 The chemoton satisfies the life criteria 162

4.5 Compartmentalization and the problem of minimum life 162

4.6 The autopoietic concept 163

4.7 The chemoton: a reproducer built from replicators of three types 165

4.8 Metabolic replicators and the side-reaction problem 166

4.9 Enzymatic RNAs (ribozymes) 167

4.10 Protocells without a metabolic subsystem: the ultimate heterotrophs? 168

5 The philosophical significance of Ganti's work / James R. Griesemer 169

5.1 Units and levels: biology and philosophy 169

5.2 Self-reproducing automata in the fluid state 175

5.3 Cycle stoichiometry: the language of living systems 178

5.4 The chemoton 179

5.5 Lessons from Ganti's work: engineering models and life criteria 180

5.5.1 Control is distributed 182

5.5.2 Stoichiometry disciplines 184

5.6 False models as means to truer theories 185.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [187]-194) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

0198507267

OCLC:

51528109