TY - JOUR
T1 - Key biology you should have learned in physics class
T2 - Using ideal-gas mixtures to understand biomolecular machines
AU - Zuckerman, Daniel M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Association of Physics Teachers.
PY - 2020/3/1
Y1 - 2020/3/1
N2 - The biological cell exhibits a fantastic range of behaviors, but ultimately, these are governed by a handful of physical and chemical principles. Here, we explore a simple theory, known for decades and based on the simple thermodynamics of mixtures of ideal gases, that illuminates several key functions performed within the cell. Our focus is the free-energy-driven import and export of molecules, such as nutrients and other vital compounds, via transporter proteins. Complementary to a thermodynamic picture is a description of transporters via "mass-action" chemical kinetics, which lends further insights into biological machinery and free energy use. Both thermodynamic and kinetic descriptions can shed light on the fundamental non-equilibrium aspects of transport. On the whole, our biochemical-physics discussion will remain agnostic to chemical details, but we will see how such details ultimately enter a physical description through the example of the cellular fuel ATP.
AB - The biological cell exhibits a fantastic range of behaviors, but ultimately, these are governed by a handful of physical and chemical principles. Here, we explore a simple theory, known for decades and based on the simple thermodynamics of mixtures of ideal gases, that illuminates several key functions performed within the cell. Our focus is the free-energy-driven import and export of molecules, such as nutrients and other vital compounds, via transporter proteins. Complementary to a thermodynamic picture is a description of transporters via "mass-action" chemical kinetics, which lends further insights into biological machinery and free energy use. Both thermodynamic and kinetic descriptions can shed light on the fundamental non-equilibrium aspects of transport. On the whole, our biochemical-physics discussion will remain agnostic to chemical details, but we will see how such details ultimately enter a physical description through the example of the cellular fuel ATP.
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U2 - 10.1119/10.0000634
DO - 10.1119/10.0000634
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85106816522
SN - 0002-9505
VL - 88
SP - 182
EP - 193
JO - American Journal of Physics
JF - American Journal of Physics
IS - 3
ER -