Coherent Behavior and the Bound State of Water and K⁺ Imply Another Model of Bioenergetics: Negative Entropy Instead of High-energy Bonds

Abstract

Observations of coherent cellular behavior cannot be integrated into widely accepted membrane (pump) theory (MT) and its steady state energetics because of the thermal noise of assumed ordinary cell water and freely soluble cytoplasmic K⁺. However, Ling disproved MT and proposed an alternative based on coherence, showing that rest (R) and action (A) are two different phases of protoplasm with different energy levels. The R-state is a coherent metastable low-entropy state as water and K⁺ are bound to unfolded proteins. The A-state is the higher-entropy state because water and K⁺ are free. The R-to-A phase transition is regarded as a mechanism to release energy for biological work, replacing the classical concept of high-energy bonds. Subsequent inactivation during the endergonic A-to-R phase transition needs an input of metabolic energy to restore the low entropy R-state. Matveev’s native aggregation hypothesis allows to integrate the energetic details of globular proteins into this view.