10 - Biological Implications

Abstract

This chapter deals with biological implications, where the inorganic reactions control a series of organic biological reactions. Biochemistry studies suggest that specific genes are activated by soluble silicon species to enhance production of growth factors, such as transforming growth factor B. The three main hypotheses for the origin of life are (1) single pre-cytic origin, (2) double pre-cytic origin, and (3) clay-based origin. A bioactive inorganic substrate can provide as many as five ordering factors that can overcome the instability of a random assemblage of prebiotic organic molecules. Inorganic catalyzed polypeptides can then self-assemble into stereospecific prebiotic micelles and create the concentration gradients required to overcome the entropic barrier to life. An implication of this concept is that there are vestigial remnants of the inorganic biosynthesis pathways still present in the genetic code of all phyla and species, which would explain the conclusions reached by Voronkov regarding silicon (Si) in the backbone of DNA and RNA. Age leads to a progressive increase in coronary heart disease, which is associated with loss of cross linking silicon within the arterial wall. One of the difficulties in establishing cause and effect relationships for biogenic silicon is the lack of an established metabolic pathway for the element, its hydrated species (Si (OH)4), or its oligomers. The molecular orbital (MO) model confirms the experimental results, and explains the environmental effects on the epitaxial adherence of the amino acid to the substrate.