Editorial board editor-in-chief

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System biolog
y
BIO-ALGORITHMS AND MED-SYSTEMS
JOURNAL EDITED BY JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY – MEDICAL COLLEGE
Vol. 7, No. 13, 2011, pp. 23-30
THE CRITERIA OF lIFE AND AGING FROm A mOlECulAR 
VIEwPOINT. THE ROlE OF PROTEIN AGGREGATION
IN THE PROCESS OF AGING
P
aweł
s
Pólnik
, l
eszek
k
onieczny
, B
arBara
P
iekarska
, J
anina
r
yBarska
, 
b
ArbArA
s
toPA
, g
rzegorz
z
eMAnek
Chair of Medical Biochemistry, Jagiellonian University – Collegium Medicum 
7 Kopernika Str., 31-034 Krakow, Poland
Abstract:
Biological knowledge is expanding rapidly, delving deep into nature’s mechanisms. However, the essence of life as 
a molecular process still remains unclear.
Organized and independently operating biological systems are commonly thought to be living. Unfortunately, these character
-
istics are too general and altogether insuficient to accurately delimit the boundaries of life. The problem of the relation of many 
primitive biological entities to the living world is still open. The properties of self-dependent biological systems clearly derive 
from their highly organized automatic nature.
The comparative analysis of genomes of primitive biological organisms seems to be the most promising approach, which may 
eventually lead to the understanding of life at the molecular level and its deinition. The erythrocyte appears to be of particu
-
lar interest as a model of a living system that is at a boundary. Its biological origin, automatically controlled metabolism, and 
programmed death sharply deined in time qualify it as the living structure, even though it is completely deprived of a genetic 
apparatus. However, its membership among living systems seems to be well-founded.
Protein aggregation is one of the common characteristics of aging. It is a consequence of abnormalities of protein structure 
induced by destructive actions but also by abnormalities of synthesis. Aggregation of membrane proteins probably affects the 
activity of certain enzymes or transport proteins, which are important as energy providers for aging erythrocytes. After the eryth
-
rocyte has passed through the vascular system a given number of times, it is not able to undergo a certain set of indispensable 
metabolic rearrangements.
A living thing is then a form of animated nature which has the features of independence as a result of automation and possesses 
its own compatible with nature program of action which is time-limited beforehand.