Organic growth processes

Metal salts of carboxylic acids obviously possess some organic character, but decompositions of these substances can be considered in the present context. Many metal carboxylates decompose at a reactant—product interface and their nucleation and growth processes are similar to the behav-... 

Table 20.5 also indicates whether a process is biotic (mediated or initiated by organisms in the environment), abiotic (not involving biological mediation), or both. Biotic processes are limited to environmental conditions that favor growth of mediating organisms. Abiotic processes occur under a wide range of conditions. Adsorption, precipitation, complexation, and neutralization are abiotic all other processes in Table 20.5 may be either. 

D. W. Deamer and J. P. Dworkin have reported in detail on the contribution of chemistry and physics to the formation of the first primitive membranes during the emergence of precursors to life the authors discussion ranges from sources of amphiphilic compounds, growth processes in protocells, self-organisation mechanisms in mixtures of prebiotic organic compounds (e.g., from extracts of the Murchison meteorite) all the way to model systems for primitive cells (Deamer and Dworkin, 2005). 

Since these two processes, growth and differentiation, occur simultaneously in living organisms, they cannot be separated. But as agricultural practice shows, it is nevertheless useful to distinguish between them and to see them in their relative proportions. For example, Fig. 5.2 shows that growth processes dominate the first formed leaves and that differentiation processes gradually become more pronounced in later formed leaves. 

Organizing for organic growth understanding key roles and processes... 

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