| Abstrakt: |
From the standpoint of modern membrane bioenergetics, separation in space is possible of membrane proteins that provide storage and use of energy accumulated in the form of the membrane potential (MP). The presence in multicellular systems of electrical communication through permeable contacts (PCs) makes it possible to transport energy through the PCs and, on this basis, the division of labor between neighboring cells. The processes and phenomena occurring in this case are manifested in changes in the electrical characteristics of individual cells and PCs and can be quantitatively analyzed by describing cells and cellular systems as equivalent electrical cables. This review presents the data of long-term studies, in which the author participated, of energy transfer through PCs in evolutionarily different multicellular systems: trichomes of filamentous cyanobacteria, hyphae of filamentous fungi, and monolayer animal cell cultures. Hyphae of Neurospora crassa are considered in more detail as a convenient experimental model. Based on a comparison of our own data with a large amount of data from the literature, the hypothesis is considered about the possible participation, in the self-organization of intracellular structures at the apex of the growing hyphae of N. crassa, of local electric fields that are created during the division between the cells of the functions of generation of the MP and the use of its energy. Ideas about the features of electrical processes and phenomena accompanying the transport of energy through a PC may be useful in analyzing many important issues related to the consideration of the mechanisms for the implementation of genetic "instructions" in specific life processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
Full text from SpringerLink