Theoretical biology first

An article by Dworkin, Lazcano and S. Miller in the Journal of Theoretical Biology shows how much is still unclear in the search for the first informationtransferring species on Earth. The authors assume the RNA world to be a... 

Figure 3. Map of a theoretical biological activity. The biological activity has been contoured against the structures arising from a particular combination of amine and ketone fragments. If at first the amine fragment is held constant (amine A) the ketone associated with maximal activity is 1. If the ketone is held constant as 1, the most potent amine is B, resulting in the false optimum B-l (in square). The true optimum C-3 (in hexagon) is never found.

Uexkull, J. von (1973). Theoretische Biologic [Theoretical biology]. Frankfurt Suhrkamp. (First published in 1928)... 

One of the major uses of molecular simulation is to provide useful theoretical interpretation of experimental data. Before the advent of simulation this had to be done by directly comparing experiment with analytical (mathematical) models. The analytical approach has the advantage of simplicity, in that the models are derived from first principles with only a few, if any, adjustable parameters. However, the chemical complexity of biological systems often precludes the direct application of meaningful analytical models or leads to the situation where more than one model can be invoked to explain the same experimental data. 

The first dynamical simulation of a protein based on a detailed atomic model was reported in 1977. Since then, the uses of various theoretical and computational approaches have contributed tremendously to our understanding of complex biomolecular systems such as proteins, nucleic acids, and bilayer membranes. By providing detailed information on biomolecular systems that is often experimentally inaccessible, computational approaches based on detailed atomic models can help in the current efforts to understand the relationship of the strucmre of biomolecules to their function. For that reason, they are now considered to be an integrated and essential component of research in modern biology, biochemistry, and biophysics. 

Monod, J., Wyman, J., and Changenx, J.-R, 1965. On die nature of allo.steric tran.sitions A plan.sible mo(. Journal of Molecular Biology 12 88-118. The cla.ssic paper diat provided the first theoretical analysis of allo.steric regulation. 

In the first part of the present review, new techniques of preparation of modified electrodes and their electrochemical properties are presented. The second part is devoted to applications based on electrochemical reactions of solute species at modified electrodes. Special focus is given to the general requirements for the use of modified electrodes in synthetic and analytical organic electrochemistry. The subject has been reviewed several times Besides the latest general review by Murray a number of more recent overview articles have specialized on certain aspects macro-molecular electronics theoretical aspects of electrocatalysis organic applicationssensor electrodes and applications in biological and medicinal chemistry. 

We have already noted evidence for genetic factors that underlie the preference for and response to caffeine. These factors create a biologically based set of individual difference dimensions that may be modified by experience with the drug. In addition, there is evidence for a number of broader individual difference dimensions that appear to be relevant. These bipolar continua differentiate between subjects who are habitually high in arousal or arousability and those who are habitually low. The factors in question are personality dimensions that theoretically reflect underlying biological continua of arousal or arousability.238 Included among these dimensions are extraversion,58 impulsivity,239240 and sensation-seek-ing.94-241-242 We will take up the first two of these. 

SIMS imaging was theoretically invented in 1949 by Herzog and Viehb of the Vienna University in Austria. The first SIMS device was completed by Liebel and Herzog in 1961 with the support of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and was used to analyze metal surfaces. However, it was not suitable for analyzing biological macromolecules because the second electronic ion beam breaks the molecules into atoms. 

As we have already mentioned, paper [ 1 ] resulted from the particular interest I.M. Lifshitz had in biological physics. Iliya Mikhailovich himself has always considered this study and presented it as the first step towards real theoretical physics of biological systems (here a fragment of one of the public presentations of I.M. Lifshitz is quoted). I.M. Lifshitz always explained in his reports what a potential of biological generalization his paper [1] contains, and how the next steps in this direction can and should be done. We have tried several times to retell in our own words the ideas Iliya Mikhailovich... 

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