THE APPLIED ASPECT OF POLYMERS AT 13Gyrs AGO
This question was presented at the Woods Hole, September 2008 meeting of the Society of General Physiologists (SGP):
Is the basis of some neurodegenerative diseases aberrant control of an ancient self-replicating protein template?
ABSTRACT: Water entrapped by a self-replicating membrane of polymer hydrophobic protein has been suggested as the first material based topology of the Universe (McGeoch 2008 Harvard da Vinci Group, May). That a similar system existed when cells first arose on Earth 3.8 Gyrs ago, is supported by evidence that the nucleotide code of one hydrophobic polymer, proteolipid, is the most conserved throughout Archaea, Eubacteria and Eukaria. Water-tight hydrogen bonded beta-sheets of proteolipid can stack as 6Å deep layers around centrally entrapped, ordered water, providing a topology that separates charge, and intermittent alpha-helical configurations confer ion channel function for the transport of cations and water between the layers (McGeoch & McGeoch 2008 J. Roy Soc Interface 5,311-318).). Here we hypothesize that this ancient system of separating charge between insulating layers of hydrophobic protein was incorporated into the first cells as the fundamental component for “information storage”. As life forms evolved on Earth and other planets with conducive conditions, this same basic “information storage” was incorporated into nervous systems. The advent of nucleotide-code-based cell chemistry evolved proteins to interact with this system, some of which suppressed its inclination to self-replicate from a template. Today certain diseases of the nervous system in Homo sapiens involving aggregated beta-sheet protein might have their basis in age-related imperfect transcription/translation or code mutations, rendering the code-based system of control, aberrant. We suggest that Battens (NCL’s), and Alzheimer’s disease might be in this category. The ratio of cell proteolipid mass to its P1, P2 & P3 code translation should be higher than that for another control polymer like a skin keratin, if there is ancient template-based self replication for proteolipid, and in Batten’s Disease it should be even higher due to aberrant control of the template system.
If the above hypothesis proves with experimentation to have any validity it is important to post the idea and concept now so that many clinical and basic scientists consider the point. Neurodegenerative disease is very hard to investigate, the brain not being clinically easily and safely accessible. However an ancient template system not under control as the pathogenesis of the disease state, could possibly be controlled chemically once its existence had been established. Then the phenotypes of diseases like the Neuronal Ceroid Lipofusinoses (Batten’s disease) and Alhzeimer’s disease might be able to be lessened and/or reversed.