dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaFluids as transducers of gravity in biological systems
| Authors | Juanita Lofthouse |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0411250 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0411250 |
Abstract
A qualitative model is presented, suggesting gravitational information is transduced into biological systems primarily by its effect on spatially organised membrane and cytoplasmic flows. Continuous low affinity interactions between membrane bound cytoskeletal proteins and phospholipid flows that are undergoing forced convective and shear driven flows are shown to convert this information into spatial protein patterns, and hence cell shape. As applied here to plant cells, the feedback mechanism is shown capable not only of establishing the strict nanometer scale parallelism that exists between proteins running on the inside and outside of the cell membrane, but also to predict its maintainance and the angle of fibre realignment observed during tropic responses.
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"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:00:52.883000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:00:52.883000Z",
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"abstract": "A qualitative model is presented, suggesting gravitational information is\ntransduced into biological systems primarily by its effect on spatially\norganised membrane and cytoplasmic flows. Continuous low affinity interactions\nbetween membrane bound cytoskeletal proteins and phospholipid flows that are\nundergoing forced convective and shear driven flows are shown to convert this\ninformation into spatial protein patterns, and hence cell shape. As applied\nhere to plant cells, the feedback mechanism is shown capable not only of\nestablishing the strict nanometer scale parallelism that exists between\nproteins running on the inside and outside of the cell membrane, but also to\npredict its maintainance and the angle of fibre realignment observed during\ntropic responses.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0411250",
"authors": [
"Juanita Lofthouse"
],
"categories": [
"physics.bio-ph",
"q-bio.CB"
],
"title": "Fluids as transducers of gravity in biological systems",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0411250"
},
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"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
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