ULTIMATE COMPUTING - Quantum Consciousness Studies

Models of Cytoskeletal Computing 167
Rotatory oscillations in the range of 10 7 per second would be consistent with the
findings of several researchers (Chapter 9) who found collective energy
absorption in the range of 10 7 per second by protein assemblies such as virus
coats.
Bornens views centrioles as the center of a dynamic cytoskeleton which
communicates and integrates cellular information. In Bornens’ view of
cytoskeletal organization, microtubules are conductors of spatial centrifugal
information, rigid organizers of cell space in which physical or electrical signals
propagate as conformational modifications of MT subunits. Intermediate
filaments and the microtrabecular lattice also participate in Bornens’ vision of a
dynamic network of pulsating polymers. He also suggests that ATP generated
centriolar rotation triggers propagating impulses along microtubules by transitory
contact/stimulus of the nine rotating MT doublet/triplets in the centriole wall with
their surrounding satellite bodies. This would lead to rhythmic signals through the
cytoskeleton with a frequency nine times greater than that of the centriole’s
rotation. Rhythmic, propagating signals are compatible with coherency, solitons,
and other models. Their occurrence throughout the cytoskeleton would be
mechanisms close to the nature of life itself.
8.2.8 Centriole-MT Signaling/Albrecht-Buehler
Northwestern University biologist Guenter Albrecht-Buehler has considered
the general question of intelligence in cytoplasm (Chapter 5) as well as two
specific models of cytoskeletal information processing: centriole signal detection,
and propagation of MT impulses. The walls of centrioles are composed of nine
MT doublets or triplets arrayed in a cylinder. Each MT triplet can consist of two
incomplete C-shaped MT and a complete O-shaped one fused longitudinally. The
triplets are arranged at an angle of 30–45 degrees from the main cylinder, pitched
to form a blade which advances to a final increment of one ninth of the perimeter
just below the position of the next blade. A line drawn through any blade connects
with the inner edge of the preceding blade (Figure 8.4).
Collective behavior of cytoplasm would seem to require some communicative
format, and Albrecht-Buehler suggests that centrioles are perfectly designed to
detect both intensity and direction of linear signals. One possible example of a
highly specific, yet ubiquitous signal propagated in a straight line in the cellular
environment is infrared radiation of the molecules inside and around cells
(Albrecht-Buehler, 1981). As discussed in Chapter 6, transmission of
biomolecular infrared energy would require shielding from bulk water, and
perhaps nonlinear coupling to structural conformational states. Both of these
requirements may be met by the ordered water and ions surrounding the
cytoskeleton and the electron-dense pericentriolar material.
Cellular navigators, centrioles are involved in directional orientation of
moving cells, establishment of cell architecture in cell growth and differentation,
and all dynamic rearrangements of cytoplasm. In an attempt to understand how
centrioles could navigate and orient, Albrecht-Buehler asks how an optimally
designed, technological spatial signal detector would appear. Instruments such as
radar scanners can determine direction of signals by scanning different directions
sequentially. However, such scanners miss signals which arrive from one
direction while another is being scanned. A properly designed nonscanning
instrument can listen simultaneously to all directions with no moving parts.
Albrecht-Buehler points out some geometric features of an optimally designed,
nonscanning “angular” detector. With signals arriving from arbitrary directions, a
detector designed as a circle with a number of regularly spaced marks around its
circumference would be accessible and capable of identifying direction. Nine fold