Developmental control in animals and a biological role for DNA charge transfer.
A model is developed based on data from diverse lines of inquiry, describing the possible role of charge transfer in the timing and coordination of DNA replication and gene expression in eukaryotic cells. Emphasis is placed on a possible electrical process which participates in the simultaneous base-pair opening in many regions of DNA preceding replication, and a similar coordination of gene expression by simultaneous generation of base-pair openings around promoter and transcriptional start sites. This process could have the character of an ultradian biological clock. There is no specific evidence for such a process, but the argument is presented that such a process is neither unphysical nor unbiological, and its postulation would act as a first-iteration road map for explaining the coordinated nature of eukaryotic organism development.
Elson
Edward
E
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. hfelson1@msn.com
D000818:Animals; D001683:Biological Clocks; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic