Life as a Physical Phenomenon Governed by the General Growth Law and Biochemical Mechanisms. Growth Equation and its Mathematical Properties

Abstract

“What is life?” This question intrigues humans since they began realizing themselves as rational creatures. Religion, philosophy, natural sciences—each provided some answer, addressing different aspects of this universal phenomenon. DNA discovery in thirties, and the later finding of its double helix structure, created a basis for discovery of biochemical mechanisms supporting life. These discoveries enforced the researchers’ beliefs that everything about living organisms is coded in complex biochemical structures at a molecular level. Although some scientists argued that life origin and development is affected by other mechanisms, acting at higher than molecular levels, such mechanisms were unknown. Here, we present such a physical mechanism, called the General growth law, and growth and division mechanisms of unicellular organisms discovered on its basis. The obtained results prove that growth and reproduction of living organisms are closely tied to their geometry. At each moment, the General growth law imposes macro constraints, defined by geometrical characteristics, to which biochemical mechanisms have to comply (in particular, it uniquely defines fraction of nutrients used for biomass synthesis). The relative amount of produced biomass (relative to the total amount of nutrients) defines composition of biochemical reactions, while the change in the amount of synthesized biomass defines the progression of biochemical reactions during the organismal life cycle, and secures their irreversibility.