Molecular Mechanisms of Biological Processes

The book studies the physical principles underlying the molecular mechanisms of biological processes. It has been shown that processes of electrical polarization - ¿gating currents¿ - play a particularly important role in these mechanisms. Establishing the physical principles of these processes opens the way to the creation of functioning analogues of living systems. In classical physics there is a relationship according to which the deformation of macromolecules can be a consequence of electrical polarization. In quantum mechanics, this effect is expressed as the principle of self-consistency of molecules. At the same time, this connection lies in the underlying mechanisms of the functioning of living systems. The book introduces physical models of the transmission of nerve impulses, cis-trans isomerization of retinal in visual rhodopsin in the light, the mechanism of allosteric effects, the mechanism of rotation of the ATP synthase rotor, the mechanism of the active transport system - the operation of the ¿ion pump¿.