From Molecules to Cells: Machines, Symmetries, and Feedbacks

Abstract

The first step on the way from chemistry to morphogenesis is the chemo-mechanical transduction that is extensively retarded relaxation of the stored energy onto a small number of selected degrees of freedom. The next level to up is presented by the microtubules and microfilaments-associated supramolecular machines which transform this energy into the dipoles (tensors) of mechanical forces. As a result, the balanced system of tensional and compressive mechanical stresses is created. On the level of isolated supramolecular machines, the processes characterized by the increase of a symmetry order and the drive toward thermodynamical equilibrium are dominated. At the upper structural levels, the role of energy-consuming non-equilibrium structures is increased, producing sub- and super-diffusion movements of the particles and a number of temporal and spatial symmetry break—the dynamic elements of still higher levels events. Among them of the most morphogenetic importance is tensile homeostasis of cell membranes and establishment of the polar cell organization.