The Thermodynamic Machinery of Life

The Thermodynamic Machinery of Life by Michal Kurzynski.

Living organisms are open thermodynamic systems whose functional structure has developed and been kinetically frozen during the historical process of biological evolution. A thermodynamics of both nonequilibrium and complex systems is needed for their description. In this book, the foundations of su...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kurzynski, Michal (Author)
Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg : Imprint: Springer, 2006.
Edition:1st ed. 2006.
Series:The Frontiers Collection,
Springer eBook Collection.
Subjects:
Biophysics.
Biological physics.
Organic chemistry.
Cell biology.
Biochemistry.
Thermodynamics.
Electronic resources (E-books)
Online Access:Click to view e-book
Holy Cross Note:Loaded electronically.
Electronic access restricted to members of the Holy Cross Community.
Description
Summary:Living organisms are open thermodynamic systems whose functional structure has developed and been kinetically frozen during the historical process of biological evolution. A thermodynamics of both nonequilibrium and complex systems is needed for their description. In this book, the foundations of such a thermodynamics are presented. Biological processes at the cellular level are considered as coupled chemical reactions and transport processes across internal and the cytoplasmic membrane. All these processes are catalyzed by specific enzymes hence the kinetics of enzymatic catalysis and its control are described here in detail. The coupling of several processes through a common enzyme is considered in the context of free energy or signal transduction. Special attention is paid to evidence for a rich stochastic internal dynamics of native proteins and its possible role in the control of enzyme activity and in the action of biological molecular machines.
Physical Description:XIV, 431 p. 150 illus. online resource.
ISBN:9783540336549
ISSN:1612-3018
DOI:10.1007/3-540-33654-0

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