{"title":"The biological Maxwell's demons: exploring ideas about the information processing in biological systems.","authors":"Eduardo Mizraji","doi":"10.1007/s12064-021-00354-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This work is based on ideas supported by some of the biologists who discovered foundational facts of twentieth-century biology and who argued that Maxwell's demons are physically implemented by biological devices. In particular, JBS Haldane first, and later J. Monod, A, Lwoff and F. Jacob argued that enzymes and molecular receptors implemented Maxwell's demons that operate in systems far removed from thermodynamic equilibrium and that were responsible for creating the biological order. Later, these ideas were extended to other biological processes. In this article, we argue that these biological Maxwell's demons (BMD) are systems that have information processing capabilities that allow them to select their inputs and direct their outputs toward targets. In this context, we propose the idea that these BMD are information catalysts in which the processed information has broad thermodynamic consequences.</p>","PeriodicalId":1,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of Chemical Research","volume":" ","pages":"307-318"},"PeriodicalIF":16.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8568868/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Accounts of Chemical Research","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12064-021-00354-6","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2021/8/27 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This work is based on ideas supported by some of the biologists who discovered foundational facts of twentieth-century biology and who argued that Maxwell's demons are physically implemented by biological devices. In particular, JBS Haldane first, and later J. Monod, A, Lwoff and F. Jacob argued that enzymes and molecular receptors implemented Maxwell's demons that operate in systems far removed from thermodynamic equilibrium and that were responsible for creating the biological order. Later, these ideas were extended to other biological processes. In this article, we argue that these biological Maxwell's demons (BMD) are systems that have information processing capabilities that allow them to select their inputs and direct their outputs toward targets. In this context, we propose the idea that these BMD are information catalysts in which the processed information has broad thermodynamic consequences.
这项工作基于一些生物学家所支持的观点,这些生物学家发现了二十世纪生物学的基本事实,并认为麦克斯韦定律是由生物装置物理实现的。特别是,JBS Haldane 首先,后来 J. Monod、A, Lwoff 和 F. Jacob 认为,酶和分子受体实现了麦克斯韦定律,它们在远离热力学平衡的系统中运行,并负责创造生物秩序。后来,这些观点被扩展到其他生物过程。在本文中,我们认为这些生物麦克斯韦恶魔(BMD)是具有信息处理能力的系统,使它们能够选择输入并将输出导向目标。在这种情况下,我们提出的观点是,这些生物麦克斯韦恶魔是信息催化剂,其中处理过的信息具有广泛的热力学后果。
期刊介绍:
Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance.
Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.