title: Connective tissue polarity unraveled by a markov-chain mechanism of collagen fibril segment self-assembly.
abstract: The well-established occurrence of pyroelectricity (Lang, 1966) in tissues of living organisms has found a first explanation by a Markov-chain mechanism taking place during collagen fibril self-assembly in extracytoplasmic channels. Recently reported biochemical findings on the longitudinal fusion reactivity of small fibril segments (which undergo C-, N- and C-, C- but not N-, N-terminal fusions; see Graham et al., 2000; Kadler et al., 1996) may provide a mechanism by which a difference in the fusion probabilities P(CC), P(NN) drives the self-assembly into partial macroscopic polar order. In principle, a Markov-chain growth process can lower the noncentrosymmetric infinity 2 symmetry describing dielectric properties of a growing limb (as managed by fibroblasts) into the polar infinity group. It is proposed that macroscopically polar properties enter the biological world by a stochastic mechanism of unidirectional growth. Polarity formation in organisms shows similarity to effects reported for molecular crystals (Hulliger et al., 2002).
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Berne, CH-3012 Berne, Switzerland. juerg.hulliger@iac.unibe.ch
authors.forename: Jürg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hulliger
mesh_terms: D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000502:physiology*; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003239:Connective Tissue Cells / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008390:Markov Chains; D008954:Models, Biological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009038:Motion; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen