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Molecules and Water in the Living Cell

An Introduction to the “Transient Linear Hydration Hypothesis”

 J. C. Collins, PhD

One of the major dilemmas in science today is how living cells can function with such extremely high efficiency and order when they are composed of the most complex molecules known to man. In some unknown way, natural molecules and surrounding water interact symbiotically, not only to assemble the molecules spontaneously but to regulate and integrate their functions. Currently, water molecules within cells are considered to be randomly distributed; bonding with each other and with molecules and ions in a multitude of ways, like the gaseous molecules around us. However, as pointed out by Erwin Schrodinger in his little book, What is Life?, water, as an environment, exhibits the property of spontaneously increasing order, just the opposite from air – it decreases entropy and increases free energy. Thus, by spontaneously increasing order and appearing to defy the Second Law of Thermodynmics, water has directed the formation and evolution of natural molecules to spatial forms which are compatible with the ordering properties of water to yield the miraculous phenomenon we call “Life.” The question is: “What is the fundamental molecular nature of that hydration order?”

Although easy to ask, the question has been extremely difficult to answer. Life is not static - it is dynamic - any proposal presented to interpret interactions between water and the molecules must explain not only spatial order, but the dynamics as well. Currently, natural molecules are characterized as thermodynamically-stabilized structures, like the three-dimensional helical structure of DNA. But DNA molecules, like all those within living cells, are not static - they move between many preferred spatial forms to perform their functions. Thus, water, as the environment, must exhibit properties of both order and disorder – order, to provide for stability and integrated motion, and disorder, to provide the freedom to move from one spatial form to another. Historical studies indicate clearly that water molecules, indeed, do exhibit both properties: 1) they reversibly form small assemblies within molecules to permit spatial options and 2) they form linear elements on molecular and membrane surfaces to provide for stability and direct them into unique associations. Although these linear segments last for less than a billionth of a second, it appears that it is these transient elements which form repetitively on surfaces and emanate from those surfaces which provide for the integration of motion of all the molecular and ionic parts of living cells and for their spontaneous assembly.

Although extremely difficult to validate experimentally, these transient elements of linear and planar order not only provide for spontaneous assembly and function, they provided the spatial criteria for the selection and assembly of the molecules which would be able to function harmoniously together to bring forth “Life.” The purpose of this web site is to provide overview of the spatial structures of the primary classes of molecules which compose living cells and how the water around them guides them into unique functional associations.

For a more detailed presentation, see www.linearwater.com

Enjoy!