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How Molecules in Cells Find Each Other & Organize into Structures?

Matti Pitkanen

Abstract


How molecules in cells "find" one another and organize into structures is an old problem of biology. Now the group led by Amy S. Gladfelter has made experimental progress in this problem. It is reported that RNA molecules recognize each other to condense into the same droplet due to the specific 3D shapes that the molecules assume. Molecules with complementary base pairing can find each other and only similar RNAs condense on same droplet. This brings in mind DNA replication, transcription and translation. Furthermore, the same proteins that form liquid droplets in healthy cells, solidify in diseases like neurodegenerative disorders. Some kind of phase transition is involved with the process but what brings the molecules together remains still a mystery. The TGD based solution of this mystery is one of the first applications of the notion of many-sheeted space-time in biology, and relies on the notion of magnetic flux tubes connecting molecules to form networks.

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