Page 25 - The Miracle in the Cell Membrane

ished. There fore, if you ask them how
enzymes man age to accom plish such
com plex tasks, in all like li hood they
will reply, "chem i cal reac tions and
phys i cal effects with in the cell
require these." Accord ing to this
claim, in the same way that it is nat u -
ral for sodi um and chlo ride to com -
bine to make sodi um chlo ride, or salt
when brought togeth er, so the tasks
per formed by enzymes also con sist of
sim i lar chem i cal reac tions.
Yet their reply would be erro ne -
ous, because an impor tant part of the
proc ess es inside the cell con sists of
flawless actions that do not stem
from chem i cal or phys i cal effects.
Some of the best exam ples of that
appear not in the cell nucle us, but in
the mem brane, the sub ject of this
book. The cell mem brane seems to
know what is need ed inside the cell
and either admits or rejects out side
sub stan ces in accord ance with those
require ments.
One of those real iz ing the extraor -
di na ry nature of this is the Isra eli bio -
phys i cist Ger ald Schroed er, trained
in phys ics at the Mas sa chu setts Insti -

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