%0 Journal Article
%T Communication and the Emergence of Collective Behavior in Living Organisms: A Quantum Approach
%A Marco Bischof
%A Emilio Del Giudice
%J Molecular Biology International
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/987549
%X Intermolecular interactions within living organisms have been found to occur not as individual independent events but as a part of a collective array of interconnected events. The problem of the emergence of this collective dynamics and of the correlated biocommunication therefore arises. In the present paper we review the proposals given within the paradigm of modern molecular biology and those given by some holistic approaches to biology. In recent times, the collective behavior of ensembles of microscopic units (atoms/molecules) has been addressed in the conceptual framework of Quantum Field Theory. The possibility of producing physical states where all the components of the ensemble move in unison has been recognized. In such cases, electromagnetic fields trapped within the ensemble appear. In the present paper we present a scheme based on Quantum Field Theory where molecules are able to move in phase-correlated unison among them and with a self-produced electromagnetic field. Experimental corroboration of this scheme is presented. Some consequences for future biological developments are discussed. 1. Introduction A living organism is fundamentally different from a nonliving system. There are basically two main differences. The first one is the capability of self-movement; namely, a living organism is able to pursue autonomously the direction of its own motion, whereas a nonliving object can be only pushed or pulled by an externally applied force. The second difference is that the dynamics of each component depends on the simultaneous dynamics of the other components, so that the ensemble of components behaves in unison in a correlated way. It is just this collective dynamics which makes possible the self-movement of the system, allowing a continuous change of the organism without disrupting its fundamental unity. This property is missing in nonliving systems which are fundamentally passive. The main actor of the time evolution of the organism is not the ensemble of molecules but the ensemble of their correlations. For this reason, we cannot assume that the molecular components of a living organism are independent molecules moving in a diffusive way, but we are forced to assume a holistic dynamics able to preserve the unity of the organism amidst a huge number of externally applied stimuli and challenges. In particular, molecules encounter each other in the organism not at random but apparently according to ˇ°organic codesˇ± evolving in space and time, as, for example, the genetic code [1]. This means that molecules which, taken individually, can
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mbi/2013/987549/