Informational molecules

Other investigators have shown that the informational molecules of Life - RNA and DNA - themselves can be synthesized within lipid vesicles. 

Essentially all biological catalysts in the modern world are themselves proteins, enzymes. However, in 1989 Sidney Altman and Thomas Cech received the Nobel prize in chemistry for showing that RNA itself could act as a catalyst for some biological reactions. This led to the idea that in an earlier time, as life was evolving, RNA may have been both the information molecule (a role usually played by the more stable DNA now) and the catalyst (the role that protein enzymes now play.) Since this idea indicates that in early times the synthesis of proteins was catalyzed by RNA, not by protein enzymes, the intriguing question is whether this is still true today. 

All this is basic chemical research that has wide importance, determining the molecular structure of a component of living cells. Simply, it tells us the details of how proteins are now made, but more generally it strengthens the picture of how life may have started in a world where RNA was both information molecule and catalyst. It is a major advance in scientific understanding. 

In these molecular communications an information molecule is selectively recognized and transduced by the corresponding receptor which is a characteristic protein assembly found on the cellular membrane surface as schematically illustrated in Fig.3. Major categories based on its constitutions are... 

Nucleic acids, proteins, some carbohydrates, and hormones are informational molecules. They carry directions for the control of biological processes. With the exception of hormones, these are macromolecules. In all these interactions, secondary forces such as hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces, ionic bonds, and hydrophobic or hydrophilic characteristics play critical roles. Molecular recognition is the term used to describe the ability of molecules to recognize and interact bond—specifically with other molecules. This molecular recognition is based on a combination of the interactions just cited and on structure. 

SUMMARY 7.4 Carbohydrates as Informational Molecules The Sugar Code... 

A striking new discussion of the "sugar code" looks at polysaccharides as informational molecules, with detailed discussions of lectins, selectins, and oligosaccharide-bearing hormones. 

The decrease in entropy implied in information storage in a covalent structure is (over)compensated by the entropy increase occurring in the course of the stepwise synthesis of the informed molecule in question. 

Although all integral membrane proteins are affected due to the application of a homeopathic potency, a ubiquitous membrane protein, aquaporin, may be the primary target of a potency. This water channel protein helps in passage of water through the cell membrane and is related to health and disease. Sucrose and lactose, which are soaked with a homeopathic potency and are used as medicated globules, play an active role as information molecules in combination with a potentized drug. 

Williams, A. and Yerin, A. 1999. The need for systematic naming software tools for exchange of chemical information. Molecules, 4(9) 255-263. Available at http //www.mdpi.org/ molecules/papers/40900255. pdf. 

An RNA that exhibits enzyme-Hke activity is called a ribozyme. The discovery of ribozymes had a great impact on research into the origins of life. Identifying catalytic capabilities in RNA, an information molecule, led to a new theory the RNA world hypothesis. This suggests that RNA was the first life form on Earth, and when it first evolved it performed both catalytic and enzymatic functions. The natural selection process associated with evolution eventually caused the RNA to evolve into the highly sophisticated supramolecular systems observed in the complex life forms present today. 

Now we add an additional item of information molecules and atoms are lazy. Atoms and molecules like to lower their energy whenever they can. Bowling balls roll downhill, boats float downstream, and molecules settle in the lowest energy arrangement that they can manage. 

The molecules formed in biosynthetic reactions perform several functions. They can be assembled into supramolecular structures (e.g., the proteins and lipids that constitute membranes), serve as informational molecules (e.g., DNA and RNA), or catalyze chemical reactions (i.e., the enzymes). 

Considering the big variety of proton emitters and detectors, it is not difficult to insert such informative molecules as inhibitors, activators, substrate, or ligands into specific sites in proteins, membranes, or nucleic acids and study directly the role of water and proton in biochemistry. 

Through these group transfer reactions, ATP provides the energy for anabolic reactions, including the synthesis of informational molecules, and for the transport of molecules and ions across membranes against concentration gradients and electrical potential gradients. 

Accordingly, we recommend selecting informative molecules for QSAR studies by using a D-optimal design in DPPs..The molecules are to be selected among those obtained allowing the 12 selected substituents for each substitution site, i.e., 12n molecules where n is the number of sites to be controlled. The final PLS model to be derived thereafter will make use again of the DPPs in order to find out which fundamental effect of substituents for each substitution site is relevant to the structure-property relationship. 

---