The Tao of Life E-Book

Roland Frey

• Herausgeber: tredition
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 186

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

The book describes a hypothesis on the origin of life on earth. It assumes that the microcosmic molecular basis of life arose by adaptation to the overlaying macrocosmic astronomical rhythms impacting on the earth. Viewed from the earth these rhythms appear as the 'course' of the sun, the moon and the starry sky. They generate the time cycles of the 24 hour day, of the month and the year and, together, are united in a 'joint rhythm circle' by a fourth rhythm, the 19 years lasting lunisolar cycle (Meton cycle). The basic structure of the Chinese Book of Changes (I Ging) was also derived from the macrocosmic astronomical rhythms impacting on the earth. These rhythms and the resulting 'cyclical time' of the earth were observed by early Chinese and used for creating the Book of Changes as a symbolical microcosmic representation of the macrocosmic rhythms. Therefore, the molecular basis of life and the basic structure of the I Ging resemble each other. According to the presented approach, the basis of life is a microcosmic 'copy' of the macrocosmic rhythms. This provides a simple explanation for the unity of macro- and microcosm in the sense that the microcosm includes the macrocosmic pattern of order in itself.

Leseprobe

Roland Frey

The Tao of Life

Time cycles of light and darkness as a categorical pattern of order for the primordial life molecules

© 2016 Roland Frey

Verlag: tredition GmbH, Hamburg

ISBN

Paperback:

978-3-7345-6457-4

Hardcover:

978-3-7345-6458-1

e-Book:

978-3-7345-6459-8

Das Werk, einschließlich seiner Teile, ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages und des Autors unzulässig. Dies gilt insbesondere für die elektronische oder sonstige Vervielfältigung, Übersetzung, Verbreitung und öffentliche Zugänglichmachung.

The Tao of Life

* Fu-hsi, according to the legend, was the first sovereign of Chinese history. He is said to have created the ‚Book of Changes‘ (I Ging) (Hsi-tz'u-chuan, Fiedeler 1988, p. 51 ff.).

** Frank Fiedeler was a German sinologist (1939-2004), whose book ‚Die Monde des I Ging‘ (The Moons of the I Ging, released in German by Eugen Diederichs Verlag in 1988) crucially inspired the author.

Time cycles of light and darkness as a

categorical pattern of order for the

primordial life molecules

The similarity of the basic molecular structure of life

and the explanatory framework of the

Chinese Book of Changes (I Ging)

dedicated to Fu-hsi* and Frank Fiedeler**

Marc Chagall considered all of us as offspring of light

but he was wrong:

we are offspring of both light and darkness

Caption of the Cover Illustration:

The cover image symbolises the impact of the macrocosmic rhythms of light and darkness on the basic building blocks of life and on the concept of the Chinese Book of Changes (I Ging). The basic building blocks of life are the DNA and DNA-binding proteins; the building blocks of the I Ging are the divided and the undivided line. The yellow arrows at the bottom symbolise the irradiation of sunlight as the energy input for the open system of ‘life’. The blue circle in the centre is the earth at the surface of which life, depicted as a green ring, originated. Rotation of the earth and the moon subdivides the continuous energy supply into the three basic rhythms of light and darkness on earth (diurnal, mensual, annual), which generate the ‘cyclical times’ on earth: day, month, and year. These are united to a ‘joint rhythm circle’ by the lunisolar cycle (Meton cycle). The yellow/black background in the centre symbolises the basic complementarity of light and darkness, the bright and dark phase of the 24h day. The four integrated arrowheads symbolise the four times of day (dawn, midday, dusk, midnight). The peripheral lunar cycle comprises both the four weeks of the month as the four main phases (waxing half-moon, full moon, waning half-moon, dark moon) and the halfweekly eight phases of lunar change by inclusion of the quarter-moon stages. The counter-rotating arrows of the moon cycle symbolise the synodical moon cycle (clockwise) and the sidereal moon cycle (counter-clockwise). The synodical moon cycle represents the moon phases as they appear every month in the sky and symbolises the month. The sidereal moon cycle represents the moon phases during the course of the moon through the zodiac during one year and symbolises the year.

Both the origins of life and of the I Ging start from a basic complementarity (2), advance via a cycle of four components (4), not depicted here, towards a cycle of eight components (8). In life this is the stage of the octameric histones and the enwinding DNA (cycle next to the moon cycle). In the I Ging this is the stage of the eight trigrams represented by the Hsien-t’ien-pa-kua formula (cycle next to the histone/DNA cycle). Both mark the developmental stage of a ‘Completion in a nutshell’ and stand at the basis of diversity. In the I Ging it is the combinatorial diversity of the 'ten thousand things', which arise from the system of the 64 hexagrams. In life it is the diversity of all species of living beings, the biodiversity. In both cases the macrocosmic patterns of order became integrated in the respective microcosmic basic structures. This is why the basic structures of the I Ging and of life resemble each other. In addition, this approach provides a casual explanation for the unity of macro- and microcosm.

Contents

Subtitel, dedication, motto

Caption of the Cover Illustration

Contents

Elucidating introduction

Cycles of light and darkness in plants

Photosynthesis

Photomorphogenesis

Photoperiodism

Cyclical molecular time measurement

DNA-binding proteins, histones and DNA

The relationship with the cyclical change of the moon

A primordial molecular protein/nucleic acid oscillator at the basis of life

Three evolutionary stages of the primordial life molecule – the ‘Completion in a nutshell’

Evolutionary stage 1

Evolutionary stage 2

Evolutionary stage 3

The conquering of the solar strong-light phase of the 24h day

The similarity of the three evolutionary stages of the primordial life molecule with the basic structure of the Chinese Book of Changes (I Ging)

The basic complementarity

I Ging

Life

The cycle of four components

I Ging

Life

The cycle of eight components

I Ging

Life

The level of the 64 hexagrams or the level of the ‘10.000 things’ or of diversity

I Ging

Life

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

References

Elucidating Introduction

Introductory remark (1)

The following text presents a hypothesis on the origin of life on earth. It assumes that the microcosmic molecular basis of life originated by adaptation to the macrocosmic astronomical rhythms impacting on the earth. When observed from the earth, these rhythms appear as the ‚courses’ of the sun, the moon and the starry sky. They produce the time cycles of the 24-hour day, of the month and of the year and are comprised in a ‚joint rhythm circle’ by a fourth rhythm, the 19 years lasting lunisolar cycle (Meton cycle).

The basic structure of the Chinese Book of Changes (I Ging) is also based upon the macrocosmic astronomical rhythms impacting on the earth. These rhythms and the resulting 'cyclical time' of the earth were observed by early Chinese and used for the construction of the Book of Changes. Therefore, the molecular basis of life and the basic structure of the I Ging resemble each other. As a consequence, the I Ging represents a model for the origin of life on earth.

Many of the described steps are not facts but at best plausible assumptions or models. They ought to be formulated in conditional form. However, continuous use of the conditional was neglected to achieve a less complicated formal structure of the text and allow easier reading and understanding.

The earth and the astronomical 'heaven' impacting on the earth are the two polar powers, which decisively constrain the origin of life on earth. The astronomical cycles of light and darkness, creating the 'cyclical time' (day/month/year) on earth, are the categorical macrocosmic pattern of order to which the microcosmic 'primordial life molecules' (proteins and nucleic acids) had to adapt in order to survive and to achieve a 'duration across change'. Thus, the earth and its 'heaven' are the 'primordial parents' of life and the living beings on earth are 'offspring of both light and darkness'.

The astronomical changes also constitute the framework for the creation of the Chinese I Ging, the 'Book of Changes' (cf. Fiedeler 1988). The synchronously running and overlaying macrocosmical rhythms (day/month/year) are caused by two polar features (light and darkness), which, in a cyclical movement, continuously transform into each other. These rhythms provide the earth with its 'cyclical time'. The astronomical pattern of order was observed by humans in early China. Adhering to the observed macrocosmic pattern of order, i.e. to the 'heavenly template', they used binary symbols as the basic structure for the I Ging. Starting from the primordial polarity (Yin/Yang dark/light, divided and undivided line) it develops via the 4 images (4 digrams) up to the 8 primeval signs (8 trigrams).

The Book of Changes represents a symbolical microcosmic ‘copy’ of the macrocosmic cyclical time rhythms, i.e. of the cyclical time systems on earth. Presumably, the creators of the book intended to make the 'course of time' available in terms of the anticipation of advantageous and the avoidance of disadvantageous time points (e.g. for agriculture but also for the insertion of a leap month in the calendar (Fiedeler 1988; cf. Parker & Dubberstein 1956; Hannah 2015).

The complete combination of the monthly synodical lunar trigram cycle with the annual solar cycle, represented by the sidereal lunar trigram cycle, the socalled 'doubling' of the trigrams, produces the 64 hexagrams. These are a symbolical formulation of the 19 years lasting lunisolar cycle (Meton cycle) and, consequently, a complete model of all 4 time cycles, the 'cyclical time', on earth (day/month/year/Meton cycle). Not before 19 solar years (254 sidereal months) or 235 synodical months have passed, the relative positions of the sun, the earth and the moon relative to the zodiac are exactly matching again (cf. Caspers 1984; Fiedeler 1988; Endres & Schad 2002). The Meton cycle was known in China since neolithical times (Hentze 1955; Fiedeler 1988, p. 56-57 – Fig. 1). It can be considered as a 'joint rhythm circle' (cf. Flatischler 1990) of the lunar and solar rhythms, as a cycle that comprises these two simultaneously running, different cycles. The understanding of all 4 astronomical time cycles, i.e. the complete description of the 'cyclical time' on earth requires observation of the courses of the sun, the moon and the starry sky (zodiac).

Fig. 1: Neolithical burial ceramique from the Province Kansu (around -2500). The serrated base plate represents the heaven in its calendaric structure. The 19 spikes symbolise the 19 years of the Meton cycle; the 13 snakes represent the 13 sidereal months of the year and the 12 diamonds, pairwise arranged on 6 spikes, symbolise the 12 synodical months of the year. The pairwise arrangement might refer to the respective semi-annual, 6 months comprising up-climbing and down-climbing of the moon along the 'celestial ladder'. It corresponds with the pairwise arrangement of the hexagrams in the I Ging. Altogether, the burial ceramique symbolises the Meton cycle as the joint rhythms of the sidereal and synodical courses of the moon. (top: lateral view, bottom: view from above – modified from Hentze 1955; Fiedeler 1988, p. 56,57)

From begin on, the 'primordial life molecules' (proteins and nucleic acids) were subjected to the same astronomical pattern of order, consisting of synchronically running and overlaying rhythms of light and darkness. Probably, life on earth, i.e. 'molecular duration across change', could originate in no other way than by bringing its microcosmic structure in agreement with the macrocosmic pattern of order, i.e. with the 'cyclical time' on earth. From this perspective, life is a molecular, microcosmical ‘copy’ of the cyclical time rhythms on earth. The similarity of the basic structure of life and that of the Book of Changes supports this argument.

Cycles of light and darkness in plants

Introductory remark (2)

The importance of cycles of light and darkness for uni-cellular and poly-cellular Recent living beings has been documented in many scientific papers and can be taken as a factum. This can serve as a model for the 'evolutionary imprinting' of pre-cellular 'primordial life molecules' by the 'cyclical time rhythms' on earth.

Instructed by the cycles of light and darkness, plants evolved three mechanisms, which, as a consequence of the role of plants as primary producers, are of prime importance for all living beings: photosynthesis, photomorphogenesis and photoperiodism.

Photosynthesis

In the course of photosynthesis and under the influence of the diurnal dayand-night rhythm occurs a transformation of anorganic 'dead' molecules into life molecules. In analogy to the Yin/Yang symbol, photosynthesis consists of two components, which are directly evidencing the importance of the light/dark rhythm: the light reaction and the dark reaction in the chloroplasts. There, light energy is being absorbed and transformed into chemically bound energy. Light reaction and dark reaction form an entity, the two components of which transform into each other in a continuous change (Czihak et al 1976; Häder 1999; Blankenship 2002; Eberhard et al 2008). They are a real living pendant of the Yin/Yang symbol (Fig. 2). Photosynthesis evolved already in early Cyanobacteria (Olson 2006). Ultimately, the life molecules, which originated in the course of photosynthesis, serve to build up the life substance of all living beings. Therefore, all living beings, directly or indirectly, 'eat' light and darkness.

Fig. 2: The Yin/Yang symbol represents the complementarity of light and darkness, which determine everything on earth and continuously and cyclically transform into each other (modified from Fiedeler 1988, p. 103).

Photomorphogenesis

Photomorphogenesis is the regulation of plant growth, induced by light and darkness (cf. Kendrick & Kronenberg 1994; Schäfer & Nagy 2006; Franklin & Shinkle 2009; Kami et al 2010). In photomorphogenesis light does not function as an energy source but as a signal. Different wavelengths evoke different signalling effects. The involved photoreceptors are cryptochromes, phototropins, and phytochromes. Phytochromes occur in 2 confirmations, an inactive dark form and an active light form (Short & Briggs 1994; Schäfer et al 1996; Eichenberg et al 2000; Smith 2000; Briggs & Olney 2001; Montgomery & Lagarias 2002; Chen et al 2004; Kim et al 2004; Batschauer 2005; Takemiya et al 2005; Briggs 2007; Christie 2007; Kevei et al 2007; Inoue et al 2008; Sullivan et al 2008; Rausenberger et al 2010). As in photosynthesis, these two poles form an entity and continuously transform into each other according to the daily light/dark rhythm and to the daily colour rhythm of light. Thereby they regulate the growth of plants. Ultimately, this regulation is based on differential gene activity induced by light and darkness (Ellis 1986; Ruyters 1988; Martínez-García et al 2000; Ma et al 2001; Tepperman et al 2001; Benvenuto et al 2002; Kircher et al 2002; Nagy & Schäfer 2002; Quail (2002); Schäfer & Bowler 2002; Schroeder et al 2002; Sengbusch 2003; Martin-Tryon & Harmer 2008). Modifications of the proteins associated with the DNA (histones) play an important role in this context (Charron et al 2009; Hofmann 2009).

Photoperiodism

Photoperiodism means the influence of the ratio of light- and dark phases of the 24h-day (the so-called 'day length') on the termination of important events in the life of plants, e.g. the budding of trees or the formation of flowers (cf. Garner & Allard 1920; Withrow 1959; Sweeney 1963; Lumsden & Millar 1998; Yanovsky & Kay 2003; Kami et al 2010). A specific ratio of light and darkness during the 24 hours of a day or different light qualities at certain day times decide whether a plant changes from the formation of leaves to the formation of flowers. Plants can perceive two different, simultaneously running and overlaying rhythms, the daily rhythm of light and darkness and, in addition, the yearly rhythm of the ratio of light and darkness per 24 hours (the 'daylength' cf. Bünning 1963, 1973, 1977). As in photomorphogenesis, light functions as a signal in photoperiodism. The perception of the light and dark phases in the course of the 24h day is effected by photoreceptors, mainly phytochromes and cryptochromes (Ahmad & Cashmore 1993; Cashmore et al 1999; Kobayashi et al 2000; Selby et al 2000; Runkle & Heins 2001; Cerdán & Chory 2003; Yanovsky & Kay 2002; Franklin & Whitelam 2004; Searle & Coupland 2004; Banerjee & Batschauer 2005; Kim et al 2007; Sawa et al 2007; Khan et al 2012). The correct termination, e.g. of flower formation, is achieved by the activation of certain genes ('flowering genes'), which were inactive during the vegetative phase of the plant, become activated at reaching a critical duration of the dark phase per 24 hours, i.e. at a 'critical day length' (Bonner 1959).

The biological role of photoperiodism consists of entering the energy-costly reproduction phase only then, when the external conditions are advantageous and there is a good perspective of forming seeds. So, important events in the life of plants are determined by the cyclical change of the daily ratio of light and darkness in the course of the year. And this cyclical change depends on the 'cyclic movement of the sun' as it is perceived from the earth. As already mentioned, plants can perceive two simultaneously running macrocosmic rhythms of light and darkness with different periods, the daily rhythm comprising the 4 times of day and the yearly rhythm comprising the 4 seasons. And the more exactly a plant adapts to or brings itself 'in harmony' with these rhythms reigning on earth, i.e. with this 'cyclical time', the higher are its chances for successful reproduction and survival.

Fig. 3: Illustration of the Egyptian sun god Aton as a sun disc, which emits rays with opened hands. The image impressively symbolises the energy supply from the sun and the signalling effects of the solar light, which allow the existence of the open system of ‘life’ on earth (modified from Häder 1999). Apparently, the small black disc represents the dark moon, which ‘meets the sun’ during the conjunction phase at daylight, i.e. it ‘disappears’ in the light of the sun (cf. Fiedeler 1988, p. 146f).

Cyclical molecular time measurement

Introductory remark (3)

The adaptation of 'primordial life molecules' to the macrocosmic rhythms of light and darkness, i.e. to a time that manifests itself cyclically, instructed from begin of life on earth microcosmic molecular reaction cycles, the duration of which approximately corresponded to those of the astronomical cycles impacting on the earth. These molecular time measurers (chronometers) allowed the 'primordial life molecules' to anticipate the macrocosmic change and, thereby, increased the chance of survival.

In the following text, 'primordial life molecules' are meant to be DNA-binding proteins (precursors of the histones) and nucleic acids (DNA), the basic complementarity and cooperation of which leads to the biochemical evolution of 'living' organic molecular complexes, which can multiply 'almost identically', from 'dead' anorganic molecules, which do not possess this ability. 'Primordial life molecules' are, so to speak, complementary and cooperative molecular complexes 'on the way towards life'.

Before the beginning of cellular life, 'primordial life molecules' were already subjected to the exogenous diurnal (daily), mensual (monthly) and annual (yearly) cycles of light and darkness.

From begin on, 'life' is an open system that is in continuous need of energy (Fig. 3 - Schrödinger 1987, 1992). Its 'elementary food' are photons. Hence, life can only exist in dependence from the sun and the continuous solar irradiation is rhythmically modified by the cyclical movements of the celestial bodies. As a consequence, from begin on and unescapably, a primordial life molecule is confronted with an environment manifesting itself by global, overlaying rhythms of light and darkness (Kuhn 1972, 1975, 1976; Kuhn & Waser 1982). Therefore, the anticipation of the cyclical time rhythms on earth (day, month, year) were already essential for the primordial life molecules in order to run molecular reactions during advantageous time periods. The primordial life molecules were forced to integrate the electromagnetic cyclical 'heavenly order' into their own structure for survival. The evolutionary adaptation to this exogenous 'cyclical time' provided competitive advantages.

The orientation of the living beings on earth according to the 'heavenly order', i.e. the optimal termination of very different organismic processes at the most appropriate respective phases of the exogenous 'cyclical time', entails selective advantages, increased fitness and, as a consequence, higher reproductive success. The adaptive importance of an endogenous circadian rhythm in Cyanobacteria, Fungi, plants and vertebrates has been documented experimentally. Organisms with a period length of their circadian clock, which corresponded most closely to their periodic (rhythmical, cyclical) environment, had a competitive advantage over other organisms with less precise correspondance (Bünning 1963, 1973; Roenneberg & Foster 1997; Ouyang et al 1998; Dunlap 1999, p. 276; Mori & Johnson 2001; Green et al 2002; Michael et al 2003; Tamai et al 2004; Woelfle et al 2004; Dodd et al 2005; Johnson 2005; Gardner et al 2006; McClung 2006; Covington et al 2008; Johnson et al 2008; Harmer 2009; Yerushalmi et al 2011).

Thus, it is not surprising that in all three domains of life: Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya (Woese & Fox 1977; Woese et al 1990) the basis for the endogenous rhythms is anchored in the sub-cellular, i.e. molecular level (cf. Hastings 1959; Whitmore et al 1998; 2000; Pando et al 2001; Cardone & Sassone-Corsi 2003; Welsh et al 2004; Maniscalco et al 2014). This is indicative of the early evolution and the universal importance of a biological 'chronometer' for all life on earth.

Apparently, a circadian rhythm evolved earlier than the cell division cycle, as the cell division cycle in early evolved, today-living unicellular organisms (Cyanobacteria) is regulated by the endogenous circadian oscillator. In addition, the period of the circadian rhythm remains unchanged, irrespective of whether the cells divide rapidly, slowly or not at all. A circadian rhythm can even exist, if the cells divide twice or more per day. Furthermore, DNA replication can occur independently from cell divisions, e.g. during endoreduplications (Sabelli & Larkins 2007). Thus, the endogenous circadian rhythm is independent of the cell division cycle (cf. Carré & Edmunds 1993; Mori et al 1996; Kondo et al 1997; Mori & Johnson 2001; Matsuo et al 2003; Hunt & Sassone-Corsi 2007; Pando & Oudenaarden 2010). This also suggests that the endogenous rhythms originated already on a molecular level, prior to the evolution of the cell. This makes sense as the time rhythms of the earth existed from begin on whereas the evolution of the cell did not happen before the end of a long period of molecular, precellular evolution of life.

A circadian rhythm also occurs in Archaea (Whitehead et al 2009; Maniscalco et al 2014) and in unicellular Eukarya (Edmunds 1983). In multicellular organisms there is often a coupling between the circadian oscillator and the cell division cycle in which the circadian oscillator sets the timing for cell divisions (Carré & Edmunds 1993; Cardone & Sassone-Corsi 2003; Matsuo et al 2003; Nagoshi et al 2004; Bouget et al 2007; Peyric et al 2013; Bieler et al 2014; Cannavo et al 2014; Feillet et al 2015). Probably, it is not fortuitous that in vitro divisions of most Eukarya cells occur with a rhythm of about 24h (Cardone & Sassone-Corsi 2003).