Living cells are open systems that exist far away from a state of thermodynamical equilibrium. They utilize the high-grade chemical energy provided by food to produce ATP and re- lease ADP and Pi together with heat di...Living cells are open systems that exist far away from a state of thermodynamical equilibrium. They utilize the high-grade chemical energy provided by food to produce ATP and re- lease ADP and Pi together with heat dissipation. Living cells exist in a non-equilibrium steady state （NESS）, they replicate themselves and respond to various environmental changes via signal transduction pathways. Because the majority of cells exist at room temperature, the stochasticity of chemical reac- tions in the cells is unavoidable. Recent research into fluores- cent proteins and microscopy techniques have enabled us to observe the dynamic process of mRNA and proteins in single living bacterial cells [1], and these have resulted in new in- sights into regulation mechanisms in molecular biology, i.e., in cellular signal transduction pathways.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.11174011,and 91130005)the National Key Basic Research Project of China(Grant No.2015CB910300)
文摘Living cells are open systems that exist far away from a state of thermodynamical equilibrium. They utilize the high-grade chemical energy provided by food to produce ATP and re- lease ADP and Pi together with heat dissipation. Living cells exist in a non-equilibrium steady state （NESS）, they replicate themselves and respond to various environmental changes via signal transduction pathways. Because the majority of cells exist at room temperature, the stochasticity of chemical reac- tions in the cells is unavoidable. Recent research into fluores- cent proteins and microscopy techniques have enabled us to observe the dynamic process of mRNA and proteins in single living bacterial cells [1], and these have resulted in new in- sights into regulation mechanisms in molecular biology, i.e., in cellular signal transduction pathways.
