Phosphorus and Consciousness
By : Arvind Bhagwath
“Life” as we know it requires Phosphorus. It is this element that is essential in sustaining life largely through phosphates and compounds containing the phosphate ion. All DNA and RNA structures are connected by phosphorous bonds and phosphorus is also a vital component of ATP which is energy unit of all plant and animal cells.
1. Role of Phosphorus in Neural Memory
Back in 1998, a physicist Bruce Kane from Australia had suggested that phosphorus atoms embedded in silicon would be the ideal way to store and manipulate quantum information that later put forward a design for a Kane quantum computer. The Kane computer is based on an array of individual phosphorus donor atoms embedded in a pure silicon lattice. Both the nuclear spins of the donors and the spins of the donor electrons participate in the computation.
With current deeper understanding on behaviour of Phosphorus atoms and Quantum mechanism, possibility of quantum processing with nuclear spins could be one of main reason on how brain stores and reads memory needs to be explored. As we are aware, when a memory is created, information flows from the cortex, the part of the brain rich in nerve cells, to the hippocampus, the central switching point for memories in the brain. The information flows in the opposite direction when we retrieve a memory. Brain memories underlie our ability to learn, to tell stories, even to recognize each others. Researchers have been able to trace memory down to the structural and even the molecular level in recent years and this should be possible only if they show Quantum behavior and hence role of Phosphorus atoms play a important role. Phosphorus has only one naturally occurring stable isotope, ³¹P, which like ¹H has spin = ½ and thus two discrete energy states which becomes ideal candidate to store memory at molecular level something represented in image below:
In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or to the target effector cell. Synapses are essential to the transmission of nervous impulses from one neuron to another. As shown in image above, communication at chemical synapses requires release of neurotransmitters. When the presynaptic membrane is depolarized, voltage-gated Ca2+ channels open and allow Ca2+ to enter the cell. The calcium entry causes synaptic vesicles to fuse (contract) and thus helps in releasing neurotransmitter molecules into the synaptic cleft. The neurotransmitter diffuses across the synaptic cleft and binds to ligand-gated ion channels in the postsynaptic membrane, resulting in a localized depolarization or hyperpolarization of the postsynaptic neuron.
Neurons are specialized to pass signals to individual target cells, and synapses are the means by which they do so. Both the presynaptic and postsynaptic sites contain extensive arrays of molecular machinery that link the two membranes together and carry out the signaling process/transfer of data with release of neurotransmitters. With availability of Phosphorus atoms in Neurotransmitter molecules, Phosphate bonds might exhibit Quantum behaviour which Brain might be using to store memory and this mechanism could be almost like how qubit operations are possible by manipulating the electric fields in Quantum computers using Phosphorus atoms.
Memory is the faculty of the brain by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. Brain is made of neurons and a single neuron is connected to many other neurons and the total number of neurons and connections is extensive. Human brain contains almost 100 billion neurons. Each neuron has on average 7,000 synaptic connections to other neurons. It has been estimated that the brain of a three-year-old child has about 1015 synapses.
As a part of evolution, self-learning resulting from experience occurs and each time data would be stored within networks, which later is used to derive conclusions from these complex set of information stored in neural networks.
Memories aren’t stored in just one part of the brain. Different types of sensory data(memory) are stored across different, interconnected brain regions. These data stored in networks may be used for predictive modelling, decision control that normally come out as emotional output from Brain. It is this retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, it would be impossible for language, relationships, or personal identity to develop. Memory loss is usually described as amnesia.
Memory is often understood as an informational processing system with explicit and implicit functioning that is made up of a sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory.
Sensory memory holds information, derived from the senses, less than one second after an item is perceived. Short-term memory is also known as working memory. Short-term memory allows recall for a period of several seconds to a minute without rehearsal. For example, recalling a ten-digit -telephone number is a kind of Short-term memory. In Long-term memory, declarative, or explicit memory is the conscious storage and non-declarative or implicit memory is the unconscious storage and recollection of information. Implicit memory uses past experiences to remember things without thinking about them and it is used to perform certain procedural tasks, such as driving, riding a bike, playing a musical instrument etc.
Long-term memory can store much larger quantities of information for potentially unlimited duration (sometimes a whole life span). Its capacity is immeasurable. It is maintained by more stable and permanent changes in neural connections widely spread throughout the brain. The hippocampus is essential (for learning new information) to the consolidation of information from short-term to long-term memory, although it does not seem to store information itself. Research has suggested that long-term memory storage may be maintained by DNA methylation. DNA methylation is a biological process by which methyl groups are added to the DNA molecule. Methylation can change the activity of a DNA segment without changing the sequence.
Several genes, proteins and enzymes have been extensively researched for their association with Long-term memory. Long-term memory, unlike short-term memory, is dependent upon the synthesis of new proteins.
For instance, Rats when exposed to an intense learning event may retain a life-long memory of the event. When such an exposure was experimentally applied, more than 5,000 differently methylated DNA regions appeared in the hippocampus neuronal genome of the rats at one and at 24 hours after training. These alterations in methylation pattern occurred at many genes that were down-regulated, often due to the formation of new 5-methylcytosine sites in CpG rich regions of the genome.
Genome size is the total number of the DNA base pairs in one copy of a haploid genome. Genome size varies widely across species. Invertebrates have small genomes, this is also correlated to a small number of transposable elements. In humans, the nuclear genome comprises approximately 3.2 billion nucleotides of DNA, divided into 24 linear molecules, the shortest 50 000 000 nucleotides in length and the longest 260 000 000 nucleotides, each contained in a different chromosome.
2. Role of Phosphorus in Genetic or DNA Memory
Unlike Neural memory, DNA or Genetic memory is straight forward. Genetic memory is a memory present at birth that exists in the absence of sensory experience and is incorporated into the genome over long spans of time. Phosphorus here too plays a very important role in building up this memory. As we are aware, DNA and RNA structures here are connected by phosphorous bonds and this DNA memory is like the flash drive that is used to store biological data almost like computers, which use 0 and 1. DNA uses A, C, G and U/T (the ‘nucleotides’, ‘nucleosides’ or ‘bases’).
This memory got developed with several million years of evolution based on events recorded in DNA which is just stored in code of four chemical bases adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine ©, and thymine (T).
A, C, G and U/T (the ‘nucleotides’, ‘nucleosides’ or ‘bases’) helps to build different Amino Acids. Proteins are molecules made of amino acids and a gene is a segment of a DNA molecule that contains the instructions needed to make a unique protein.
Example : If you cut the leg off a salamander, it will grow back. Similarly in roses, they have thorns to protect them from being eaten by animals. Extra protection functions like Thorns for Roses or Regeneration is triggered by DNA from earlier events of damage. This is how memory from these phosphate bonds helps for survival and growth.
When we speak about DNA in animal or plant cells that holds genetic memory, Hydrogen bonding is the chemical mechanism that underlies the base-pairing rules. Hydrogen bonds are weak electrostatic attractions between atoms displaying partial positive and partial negative charges.
The larger nucleobases, adenine and guanine, are members of a class of double-ringed chemical structures called purines; the smaller nucleobases, cytosine and thymine (and uracil), are members of a class of single-ringed chemical structures called pyrimidines. Purines are complementary only with pyrimidines: pyrimidine-pyrimidine pairings are energetically unfavorable because the molecules are too far apart for hydrogen bonding to be established; purine-purine pairings are energetically unfavorable because the molecules are too close, leading to overlap repulsion. Purine-pyrimidine base-pairing of AT or GC or UA (in RNA) results in proper duplex structure. Uracil(U) is substituted for thymine in the RNA strand.
Hydrogen bonds are critically important in biology because they help explain the solubility of molecules in water, the structure of macromolecules (such as DNA and protein), and the formation of stable lipid bilayer membranes.
When we speak about DNA in animal or plant cells, Hydrogen bonding is the chemical mechanism that underlies the base-pairing rules. Hydrogen bonds are weak electrostatic attractions between atoms displaying partial positive and partial negative charges. The partial positive charges are produced when hydrogen atoms are associated with another atom through a polar covalent bond. The partial negative charges are associated with an atom (e.g., oxygen) that has a higher affinity for electrons.The oxygen atom has two pairs of electrons in its outermost energy level that are not in bonding orbitals. These four electrons form a negatively charged “cloud” of electron density on the side of the water molecule opposite from the hydrogen atoms. The oxygen atom is much more electronegative than the hydrogen atom, so, when a bonding orbital forms between the oxygen and hydrogen atoms, the electrons in the bonding orbital are disproportionately distributed toward the oxygen side of the polar covalent bond. This results in a partial negative charge (-) associated with the oxygen atom. The full positive charge of the hydrogen nucleus is poorly covered by the thin electron density and “shows through”, resulting in a partial positive charge (+).The weak electrostatic attraction between the partial negative and partial positive charges is a hydrogen bond.In molecular biology, two nucleotides on opposite complementary DNA or RNA strands that are connected via hydrogen bonds are called a base pair.
The Earth is thought to be approximately 4.6 billion years old, but life is believed to have occurred approximately 3.5 billion years ago. There is a idea that long ago complex collections of chemicals formed the first cells and Life began in the oceans from simple chemicals joining together in a primordial soup. Lightening and ultraviolet radiation from the Sun acted on the atmosphere to form rapid chemical bonds of amino acids. Complex chemicals evolved into living cells from the complex organic molecules that formed on the Earth’s surface.
A, C, G and U/T (the ‘nucleotides’, ‘nucleosides’ or ‘bases’) helps to build different Amino Acids and only 20 amino acids are required to build all of the proteins in our bodies and it is the particular sequence of amino acids that determines the shape and function of the protein.
Example : Haemoglobin is a protein that works as transport proteins move oxygen around our body. It is made up of four polypeptide chains and each bound to one haem group. Each Haem group can combine with one oxygen molecule and hence one molecule/cell of haemoglobin can carry four oxygen molecules.
As we know, all of our cells contain the same DNA molecules(adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine ©, and thymine (T)), but each cell uses a different combination of genes to build the particular proteins it needs to perform its specialized functions.
Enzymes are proteins that facilitate biochemical reactions.
Example : Pepsin is a digestive enzyme in your stomach that helps to break down proteins in food. Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system to help remove foreign substances and fight infections.
Proteins like actin and myosin are contractile proteins that are involved in muscle contraction and movement.
Proteins like collagen and elastin are structural proteins that provide support in our bodies in connecting tissues and finally proteins like insulin controls our blood sugar concentration by regulating the uptake of glucose into cells.
Below is the genetic code that describes the translation of an RNA codon into one of 20 different amino acids. The first three circles, moving from the inside out, represent the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd nucleotides of a given codon. The 4th, 5th, and 6th circles define the translated amino acid in three ways: the amino acid’s full name, its 3-letter abbreviation, and its single-letter abbreviation. Three of the 64 total RNA codons are stop codons, which halt translation and implicitly add a 21st stop symbol to the amino acid alphabet.
The idea of DNA data storage is not merely theoretical. Scientists have mastered to decode DNA memory that is helping for several reverse engineering projects like development of life saving vaccines. In vaccine production process, DNA code has to be uploaded to a DNA printer which then converts the bytes to actual DNA molecules. CRISPR DNA-editing technology is available now to record images of a human hand into the genome. It was showcased by Church’s group at Harvard for E. coli, which were read out with higher than 90 percent accuracy. Researchers at the University of Washington and Microsoft Research have developed a fully automated system for writing, storing and reading data encoded in DNA. The genetic material DNA has garnered considerable interest as a medium for digital information storage because its density and durability. We could possibly see a portable DNA storage device in near future to store our computer data something like thumb drive :-).
Conclusion:
Future is genetic industry and nanotechnologies which gives new definition on how life is decoded, defined and stored. Classical mechanics cannot explain consciousness, hence the quantum mind or quantum consciousness needs to be explored. It posits that quantum-mechanical phenomena, such as entanglement and superposition of Phosphorus atoms may play an important part in the brain’s function and could explain consciousness.
