Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
8-9
pubmed:dateCreated
2000-1-6
pubmed:abstractText
A myriad different constituents or elements (genes, proteins, lipids, ions, small molecules etc.) participate in numerous physico-chemical processes to create bacteria that can adapt to their environments to survive, grow and, via the cell cycle, reproduce. We explore the possibility that it is too difficult to explain cell cycle progression in terms of these elements and that an intermediate level of explanation is needed. This level is that of hyperstructures. A hyperstructure is large, has usually one particular function, and contains many elements. Non-equilibrium, or even dissipative, hyperstructures that, for example, assemble to transport and metabolize nutrients may comprise membrane domains of transporters plus cytoplasmic metabolons plus the genes that encode the hyperstructure's enzymes. The processes involved in the putative formation of hyperstructures include: metabolite-induced changes to protein affinities that result in metabolon formation, lipid-organizing forces that result in lateral and transverse asymmetries, post-translational modifications, equilibration of water structures that may alter distributions of other molecules, transertion, ion currents, emission of electromagnetic radiation and long range mechanical vibrations. Equilibrium hyperstructures may also exist such as topological arrays of DNA in the form of cholesteric liquid crystals. We present here the beginning of a picture of the bacterial cell in which hyperstructures form to maximize efficiency and in which the properties of hyperstructures drive the cell cycle.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:issn
0300-9084
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
81
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
915-20
pubmed:dateRevised
2005-11-16
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:articleTitle
Hypothesis: hyperstructures regulate bacterial structure and the cell cycle.
pubmed:affiliation
IFR 'Systèmes Intégrés', Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université de Rouen, 76821 Mont-Saint-Aignan Cedex, France.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Review