Biological challenges, evolution

By comparing and contrasting details of particular biochemical pathways in different organisms, we can learn how biological challenges are solved at the biochemical level. In most cases, these challenges are addressed by the adaptation of existing macromolecules to new roles r ather than by the evolution of entirely new ones. 

Evolution counteracts simplistic notions of a static world in which all effects have one cause and where linear thinking and operations are dominant. In Chapter 4, we have encountered the central dogma of biology, according to which all information flows from DNA to RNA to protein. As reverse transcriptases exist and transform RNA back into DNA, we know the central dogma is not strictly correct. In this chapter, we will encounter several situations which collectively challenge the notion of... 

The aim of this book is to provide the reader with an overview of interfacial supramolecular chemistry. Supramolecular assemblies of the kind considered in this text are truly interfacial, not only because they separate solid- and solution-phase components but also because they represent the junctions where biology, chemistry, physics and engineering meet. In true interfacial supramolecular systems, individual moieties, e.g. the supporting surface and an adsorbed luminophore, interact co-operatively to produce a new function or property. In addition, these two- and three-dimensional structures remain an important step in the evolution of structure from discrete molecules, to interacting assemblies, and finally to solids. In this last chapter, the future of interfacial assemblies will be briefly considered. This discussion will focus on the possibility of integrating such assemblies into practical devices and the identification of the important scientific challenges. 

To thoughtful persons both in and out of the biological sciences, the existence and evolution of living organisms and their development have posed and continue to pose enormously challenging intellectual problems. Fritz London, who had contributed much to the phenomenological theory of superfluidity and superconductivity, was also fascinated by these problems. From his earlier work on superfluid helium and superconductivity he knew of the unifying effect that the existence of a Bose-Einstein condensate had upon a superfluid system. Today we would describe this as the effect on the system of the existence of an order parameter—in par-... 

The application of evolutionary and combinatorial techniques to study and solve complex biological and chemical problems has become one of the most dynamic fields in chemistry and biology. The book presented here is a loose collection of articles aiming to provide an overview of the current state of the art of the directed evolution of proteins as well as highlighting the challenges and possibilities in the field that lie ahead. 

In the context of the big problems challenging science, where physics addresses the origin and laws of the universe, and biology the rules of life, chemistry may claim to provide the means both for unraveling the progressive evolution towards... 

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