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Growth and
Replication of Living Organisms. General Law of Growth and Replication and the
Unity of Biochemical and Physical Mechanisms
by
Yuri K. Shestopaloff
ISBN 978-0-9877785-0-5
Library of Congress Control Number:
2011916768
Table of Contents
Excerpt
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Editorial
Review
The book “Growth and
replication of living organisms. General law of growth and replication and the
unity of biochemical and physical mechanisms” by
Yuri Shestopaloff
significantly enhances previously published results of his studies of growth
mechanisms. In fact, the depth and comprehensiveness of this research
allowed the author to introduce and prove the existence of a general growth
law, which unites the physical and biochemical growth factors, and is
universally applicable to growth, replication, existence, and development of all living organisms.
Of course, it is hard to
believe that once you read the book, you will know why and how the
miracle of life appeared and exists. And nonetheless, this is what this book is
about. Recall the discovery of laws of mechanics by Newton. Did anybody pay
attention when Newton discovered the general laws of mechanics and gravitation?
Not really. He was just lucky to have a sponsor and to live long enough to get the
recognition of his discoveries. The general growth law is of no less importance
for life scientists, as laws of mechanics are for physicists. Knowledge of this
general growth law gives an edge in all biology related studies, since this
growth law universally governs the growth of all living organisms and is
influentially present in any biological phenomena. The author presents many
convincing examples of practical applications of the discovered law in
biotechnology, cell biology, development biology, etc. Beginning as a particular
mathematical model of the cell growth, the research went through several
qualitative phases, before the originally introduced physical growth
mechanism became a credible theory about the general growth law that universally governs the growth and replication of all living
species, from organelles to humans. Reviews of the author's previous book on
physics of growth and replication were very positive.
Annotation
This densely packed book
has 215 pages,
about 61,000 words, includes 47 graphical illustrations, 8 tables, extensive
bibliography and index table. The book is a continuation of
previous studies of growth mechanisms by the same author. Unlike other
scientists that study the fragments of the growth phenomenon, the author
considers the growth as a single process. The
growth is considered both from the physical and biochemical
perspectives. These two types of growth mechanisms form a single mechanism that
governs the growth of all living organisms and their constituents. The presented 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, and, indirectly, its biochemical machinery define the value of the growth ratio. The growth ratio in turn defines the distribution of
nutritional resources between maintenance needs and biomass synthesis.
The fraction of nutritional resources diverted towards biomass synthesis defines
the amount of synthesized biomass, and through this, the overall composition of
biochemical reactions. Thus, during growth, combined changes in an organism’s
geometry and related changes in distribution of influx of nutrients influence
the composition of biochemical reactions in such a way that organisms progress
through the whole growth cycle. Using the growth equation, the mathematical
representation of the general growth law, the author computes growth curves for different
organisms and compares them with experimental data. Also, he calculates amount of
synthesized biomass for S. cerevisiae and compares the results with data obtained
by methods of metabolic flux analysis. In all cases, the correspondence between
computed results and experimental data was very good, given the range of
possible errors. The author also presents other evidences of validity of
discovered general growth law and relevant considerations and conclusions.
It was discovered that there are two major growth scenarios for
individual organisms. Based on this result, the author considered growth of populations
for such organisms and obtained accordingly J-curves and S-curves for population
growth (without using the logistic equation!). This newly introduced population
growth model has a great deal of flexibility and allows considering many
parameters that influence the population growth.
The discovered growth mechanism and its mathematical representation, the growth
equation, are equally applicable to individual cells and multicellular organisms,
although the presented material mostly considers unicellular organisms.
The book is of a high practical value for those working in biotechnology,
cell and developmental biology, microbiology, biophysics. Any person interested in the subject and
familiar with the basics of physics and biology will understand the presented
concepts; they will also be helped by graphical
illustrations and numerical examples.
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