ULTIMATE COMPUTING - Quantum Consciousness Studies

Cytoskeleton/Cytocomputer 121
properties of cytoplasm. They find that semi-rigid microtubules are under
compressive forces generated by interwoven contractile actin filaments. A balance
between parallel compressive and tensile forces leads to a selfsupporting property
characterized by Buckminster Fuller (1975) as “tensegrity.” Tensegrity can
provide cell support even if the rigid parallel element are not in direct contact.
Tensegrity in the cytoskeleton might explain the self-supporting structural
properties of cytoplasm in which the rigid parallel elements are not in direct
contact.
Robert Jarosch (1986) has proposed that contractile actin winds and unwinds
microtubules by a “torque drive,” causing rotational oscillations and perhaps
tuning and detuning of the microtubule system. Dynamic compression/tension
may also be important in the regulation of membrane receptors whose mobility
are limited by anchoring MT. Conversely, contractile actin filaments can
redistribute the receptors unless they are restrained.
Dynamic tensegrity (Chapter 8) may be an important mechanism in many
biological functions. In the cytoplasm, complex structures assemble, perform, and
vanish into soluble subunits.
5.6 The Cytoskeleton and Development
The cytoskeleton performs critical functions in reproduction and
development. These include meiosis (division of duplicated chromosomes in
sperm and egg cells), sperm motility, mitosis, cell proliferation, cell migration and
changes in cell shape which accompany differentiation, the expression of cell
form and function. All cells in a given organism have the same genetic
capabilities, but take on the roles of specific tissues by the mysterious processes
of trophism and differentiation. Cells within developing organisms or embryos
can be moved and will grow and assume the characteristics of the new tissue in
which they are placed.
The cytoskeleton is crucial to all steps in reproduction, growth, trophism and
differentiation. If chromosomes are maldistributed in meiosis or mitosis,
nonviable or abnormal offspring can occur. Such maldistribution may be related
to cytoskeletal dysfunction, an early theory for the cause of cancer (Boveri, 1929).
Variability in tubulin isozymes and MAPs could explain tissue and cell specificity
based on differences in the molecular composition and activities of the
cytoskeleton.
The origins of form, growth patterns, and differentiation comprise the
biological science of embryology, first addressed by the Greek Aristotle. Two
possible explanations for the development of form and patterns from what
appeared as nothingness were considered by Aristotle. The first notion was that
embryos derive from formless, tiny masses through a process of continuous
unfolding he termed “epigenesis.” The second notion was that individual patterns
exist in miniature within the parent, and development consists in steady growth of
its dimensions, the process of “preformation.” Aristole (Book VI of Historia
Animilium) described his experiments in which he interrupted the incubation of a
hen’s egg in various stages. After three days,
the heart appears like a speck of blood in the white of egg, ... [it]
beats and moves as though endowed with life and from it two vein
ducts with blood trend in a convoluted course.
Only seven days later are the “chick and all its parts distinctly visible.”
Aristotle favored epigenesis, however the concept of preformation dominated
science for centuries until 1759 when Friedrich Wolff, a German physician living
in St. Petersburg published “Theoria Generationis.” With better optics than