Invited Lectures

Proceedings of the Third Congress of the European Society for Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry, August 31-September 3, 1981, Noordwijkerhout, Netherlands

A. D. F. Addink, N. Spronk

• Publisher: Pergamon
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781483190303
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Zoology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Exogenous and Endogenous Influences on Metabolic and Neural Control, Volume 1: Invited Lectures covers the proceedings of the Third Congress of the European Society for Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry. The book presents 35 papers that cover various aspects in the control of physiological activities in animals. The text first details the origin of physiology and comparative physiology. Next, the book covers papers that deal with different physiological systems, which include feeding, respiration, reproduction, osmoregulation, and perception. The text will be of great use to students, researchers, and practitioners of biology, biochemistry, medicine.

The Origin of Physiology^*

A.D.F. Addink, Department of Animal Physiology, Gorlaeus Laboratoria, Rijksuniversiteit, Wassenaarseweg 76, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

Publisher Summary

This chapter discusses the origin of physiology. It further discusses the course of events starting with organic molecules, followed by macromolecules and more complex forms of prebiotic situations, such as combinations of nucleotides and proteins. To arrange nucleotides and proteins stereochemically, a third factor is necessary. This third factor is basically the original part of the earth itself: the inorganic compounds more or less crystallized. The chapter explains two theories based on the inorganic/organic interactions and the organic/macromolecular organization. The aminoacid configuration of the apoprotein is such that the metals fit in a stable manner through coordination. During prebiotic conditions, the primary structure of such a protein is formed on zinc containing geochemical matrix—zinc is coordinated by histidin/imidazole^-. This chapter discusses the essential influence of the geochemical matrix in the prebiotic conditions of amphibole silicates containing specific metals. As proteins often have hydrophobic areas composed of apolar aminoacid residues, lipids are adsorbed; by lining up these lipoprotein complexes, they form membranes. Primitive cells have incorporated metalloproteins and nucleoproteins.

INTRODUCTION

I THE ORIGIN OF PHYSIOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

Scientifically speaking you are, attending this European Congress in Holland, descendants of famous scientists in physiology and comparative physiology, such as just to mention a few:

Galvani working on electricity and muscle movement in Italy and writing in Latin; Claude Bernard in France, who really introduced the experimental methodology in biology and the concept of the “milieu intérieur”; Pavlov in Russia training dogs; Fick in Germany doing research on heart physiology and in Holland Jordan explored the muscle contraction (Postma 1980).

Concerning biochemistry Priestley in England discovered oxygen and oxygen consumption in animals about 200 years ago; around 1935 Embden and Meyerhof established the glycolysis and fermentation, while Krebs postulated the citric acid cycle. Thereafter Florkin in Belgium is of importance for the comparative biochemistry.

As time does not permit me, I realize that you can extend this list much, much more, but what you will find is that for a long time -some 200 years–this all happened in Europe. Perhaps it is also for that reason, that we all enjoy the existence of this European Society for Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry.

We hope that the lectures on fundamental and applied subjects, summarizing results of yesterday and today as well as the postersessions and round tables -organized along your personal interests–will inspire you for the research in the future. The day of tomorrow has a grey sky, but we do hope and believe, that through cooperation between research groups inside Europe a more favourable climate can be created, as far as scientific output is concerned.

It is really possible to shape your own scientific future in physiology and comparative biochemistry as Science is made by humans.

II THE ORIGIN OF PHYSIOLOGY AS A SCIENTIFIC PHENOMENON

Looking ahead for the scientific problems to be resolved such as the origin of life and its subsequent evolution into e.g. highly organized vertebrate animals together with their physiological implications I will give a short speculative view on the future of animal physiology and comparative biochemistry to describe a living animal more than just a temporary adaptive self-reproducing battery of (sun)energy.

If we will understand the course of events starting with organic molecules, followed by macromolecules and more complex forms of prebiotic situations such as combinations of nucleotides and proteins it will be instructive to unravel physiological regulation mechanisms.

In order to arrange nucleotides and proteins stereochemically a third factor is necessary. This third factor is basically the original part of the earth itself: the inorganic compounds more or less crystallized.

So in a concise way I will point out two theories: at

1. the inorganic/organic interactions

2. the organic /macromolecular organization

Ad 1. Experiments with silent discharges, ultraviolet or electric discharges (lightning), passing through a gaseous mixture of methane, ammonia, hydrogen and water vapour resulted in the formation of amino acids, as racemic mixtures (Miller 1960; Fox 1965, 1972 and Oparin 1957). In the presence of clays a preference for the formation of 1-amino acids was established. The formation of polymers from aminoacids was established by Degens and Matheja (1971) in the presence of inorganic templates such as kaolinite (Al₄, OH₈). (Si₄O₁₀) and montmorillonate ((Al, Mg)₂ OH₂)⁻¹. (Si₄O₁₀). ((Na, Ca) nH₂O)⁺¹.

These clays serve the same function as the ribosomes in a biological system.

As we know quite a number of enzymes contain (divalent) metalions in their active centers such as zinc, copper or iron. Also rather primitive organic catalysts have been described for instance an imidazole-zinc complex, which binds CO₂ just as the active site in the zinc containing enzyme carbonic anhydrase of 36000 daltons (Dobry-Duclaux 1966, 1970; Addink 1968).

The aminoacid configuration of the apoprotein is such that the metals fit in a stable manner through coordination. In my opinion during prebiotic conditions the primary structure of such a protein was formed on zinc containing geochemical matrix -zinc is coordinated by histidin/imidazole-. This matrix is not just a clay mineral, but a silicate of the amphibole group (Deer et al 1963) including zinc silicate such as hemimorphite or calamine (Zn₄Si₂O₇ (OH)₂.H₂O). The amphibole silicates are composed of double chains of linked tetrahedras: (Si₄O₁₁)_n, repeating at 5.3 Å.

Octohedrally coordinated are arrays of five cations eg iron, magnesium, zinc, copper or calcium, possibly cobalt (indicated by MM).

It seems to me not unlikely, that such minerals were involved in the stereochemical allignment of proteins, which catalyzed the nucleic acid polymerization. It is known that DNA-polymerase of Esc...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• European Society for Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry Third Congress
• Copyright
• PREFACE
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• Chapter 1: The Origin of Physiology
• Chapter 2: Reflections on Comparative Physiology
• Section FEEDING
• Section RESPIRATION
• Section REPRODUCTION
• Section ACTIVITY AND ENERGY SUPPLY IN MUSCLES
• Section ION AND OSMOREGULATION
• Section PERCEPTION AND ORIENTATION
• AUTHOR INDEX
• SUBJECT INDEX