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By Root 437 0

Christopher Miller writes in the journal Nature: âProteins are intelligent beings. They have evolved to operate in the metabolic maelstrom of a turbulent cellular environment. Transcription factors must know when to switch genes on or off, and the cellular levels of specific âsignalingâ moleculesâlactose, retinoic acid, tryptophan or copper, to mention a few casesâgive them this information. Likewise, enzymes at key biochemical control points have to speed up or slow down according to the ever-changing demands, coded in concentrations of cytoplasmic metabolites, of, well, life. Haemoglobin, the granddaddy of all such âallostericâ proteins, knows when you are sleeping or sprinting, realizes whether you live on Cape Cod or in Kathmandu, and ascertains moment by moment whether it is coursing through your lungs or visiting vigorously respiring tissues; it makes these judgments and accordingly adjusts its conformation, and thus the bloodâs oxygen-carrying behavior, by sensing cellular solutes such as CO2, H+, Cl-, NO and bisphosphoglycerate.â

Whether proteins truly have a capacity to know is ultimately a matter of opinion. Proteins are merely folded chains of amino acids. In my view they behave as if they have the capacity to gauge a wide variety of variables and take appropriate and precise actions. If they did not, we would not be alive. But my mind boggles when I think about the chi-sei of proteins. How could a string of amino acids know anything? Amino acids are simple organic compounds that contain a carboxyl group (-COOH) and an amino group (-NH2). They are not much more than a configuration of atoms. Yet scientists report that proteins ârecognizeâ the molecular pattern of specific pathogens. They also ârecognizeâ DNA damage, and either ârepairâ it or, if the damage is too extensive, âsend a signalâ to the cell to kill itself. One protein, ubiquitin, does everything from âdegrading defective proteinsâ and âdirecting protein trafficâ to âregulating DNA activity.â Ubiquitin is no simple, mechanical device. It knows its way around the cell. How it works is the question.

I asked Thomas Ward, a professor of chemistry at a Swiss university and a protein specialist, whether he thinks proteins have a capacity to know. He replied, âA protein can move, powering itself from an external food source. A protein can interact with others of its own species, as well as with individual entities from other species, such as DNA and RNA molecules. A protein can use other entities to build a large edifice, such as a cell. A protein can even reproduce itself, according to recent research. A protein can lose all of its functions, or âdie.â The foremost function of proteins is to recognize. For example, they recognize RNA molecules, or viruses, or other proteins. Then, based on this recognition, they can take appropriate measures. If this is what you mean by âto know,â then I find proteins undeniably have the capacity to know.â

When I first started this investigation, I expected scientists would consider my interest in natureâs âintelligenceâ with suspicion. But this turned out not to be the case. Science seems to have evolved in recent years. Now few scientists describe proteins as stupid bits of matter involved in automatic reactions. There are too many clear indications of a capacity to know all through the edifice of life. Tens of thousands of scientists in many different countries are busy studying these indications and trying to discover how nature knows. They study cell signaling, or DNA repair by protein-enzymes, or neuron decision making, or slime mold maze solving, or a dodder plantâs capacity to gauge its environment. The data they generate is a treasure trove of chi-sei. Scientists now confirm what shamans have long said about the nature of nature.

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TRANSFORMERS AND TRANSFORMATION kept cropping up during this investigation. My hunch is that part of natureâs essence is to transform itself, to evolve. The beings of this world seem driven to transform themselves, one way or another. By conducting this investigation, I was transformed.