BioelectricaAlterspan Labs
GNL
1919–2019

Gilbert N. Ling

Later authors used his account of resting and active protein states to explain how cells react to outside actions12, and to support a view of cellular work arising from coherent order5.

Born
1919
Died
2019
In the library
1 work, named in 6 passages elsewhere
Facts from
Open Library
18501875190019251950197520002025Matveev VV, 20101Matveev VV, 20102Matveev VV, 20103Matveev VV, 20104Jaeken L, Manoj KM, 20255Jaeken L, Manoj KM, 20256
01

Resting and active proteins

Matveev said that Ling's work gave the only clear answer he had found to what marks the structure of a resting cell. In that reading, most peptide bonds of the cell's proteins are open to water, and few sit in secondary structures3. On activation the ratio reverses. Matveev called these two extreme protein states Ling's suggestion and used them as the basis for his own argument about temporary cellular structures4.

02

Link to Nasonov's school

That school found and studied the nonspecific reaction of the cell to external actions. Matveev held that the works of Ling and followers allow the mechanisms behind this reaction to be understood1.

03

Order and cellular work

Jaeken and Manoj describe physiological work as cycles of order to disorder to order, with phase transitions in local coacervate systems. They trace the idea to Bauer in 1935, who saw work arising from coherent order and rejected the physics of dilute solutions6. They say Ling elaborated the idea further, and that it was recently corroborated kinetically5.

SourcesEach quotation was checked word for word against the passage it opens.
  1. Nasonov's school discovered and studied a fundamental phenomenon -- the nonspecific reaction of the cell to external actions [1], while works by Ling [5] and his followers allow the mechanisms of this phenomenon to be understood.Matveev VV, 2010 · Native aggregation as a cause of origin of temporary cellular structures needed… · open at passage 4
  2. It is only in Ling's work [5] that I have found a clear answer to this question.Matveev VV, 2010 · Native aggregation as a cause of origin of temporary cellular structures needed… · open at passage 8
  3. most of the peptide bonds in this superpolypeptide would be accessible to solvent (water), while only a few would be included in secondary structures.Matveev VV, 2010 · Native aggregation as a cause of origin of temporary cellular structures needed… · open at passage 8
  4. These two extreme states of cell proteins, suggested by Ling, provide a basis for further consideration.Matveev VV, 2010 · Native aggregation as a cause of origin of temporary cellular structures needed… · open at passage 8
  5. The idea was further elaborated by Ling [40] and recently corroborated kinetically andJaeken L, Manoj KM, 2025 · Murburn Bioenergetics and "Origins-Sustenance-Termination-Evolution of Life"… · open at passage 43
  6. who saw “work out of coherent order” as the only thinkable alternative for the unreal mechanistic proposal based on the physics of diluted solutionsJaeken L, Manoj KM, 2025 · Murburn Bioenergetics and "Origins-Sustenance-Termination-Evolution of Life"… · open at passage 43
In the library1 work
A Physical Theory of the Living StateLing, G. N.
1962
A Physical Theory of the Living State
Ling, G. N.
1962 · described