ULTIMATE COMPUTING - Quantum Consciousness Studies

Origin and Evolution of Life 53
information transfer. Evidence of cytoplasmic information being transmitted over
hundreds of generations of paramecium without genetic involvement
(Aufderheide, Frankel and Williams, 1977) suggests that centrioles and other
cytoskeletal elements may have a degree of independence (Figure 5.27). Real
time information processing is in the cytoskeletal province, so DNA replication
may not be the “sine qua non” of living organisms. Dynamic, collective activities
of centrioles, microtubules, and other cytoskeletal proteins may manifest
biological intelligence and be closer to life’s essence than are genetic
mechanisms. Ambiguous life forms may be particularly important in the future.
3.3 Centrioles—Evolution’s Hijackers
Appearance of centrioles and related cytoskeletal structures as motile
intelligent organizers on the evolutionary scene one billion years ago may have
been the key to success for eukaryotes, and initiation of the lineage that has led to
human consciousness.
Centrioles are the specific apparatus within living cells which trigger and
guide major reorganizations of cellular structure occurring during mitosis, growth
and differentiation. Centrioles are composed of two similar cylinders (each of
which is also referred to as a “centriole”) whose diameters are 0.2 microns (200
nanometers). Each cylinder possesses a nine fold radial symmetry and consists of
microtubule triplets longitudinally fused. A cartwheel filamentous structure (or
“pinwheel”) appears to hold together the end of each centriole cylinder. One
centriole begets another by replication which occurs at right angles to the long
axis of the cylinders. This perpendicular replication which initiates mitosis is
counter-intuitive compared to longitudinal replication or fission, and remains one
of the mysteries surrounding centrioles.