The Thermodynamics of the living organisms: entropy production in the cell

TL;DR

This paper explores the thermodynamics and entropy production in living cells, reviewing models and discussing the challenges of measuring and understanding entropy in complex biological systems.

Contribution

It provides an overview of existing models of cellular entropy production and offers a personal perspective, emphasizing the importance of thermodynamics in understanding cellular processes.

Findings

Entropy production in cells is complex and difficult to measure.

Existing models range from simple to elaborate, highlighting diverse approaches.

Understanding cellular entropy is crucial for insights into biological function and origin.

Abstract

Trying to identify the entropy production within a cell has been part of debates and studies in the last century. First the idea was to make a resemblance of a cell with a Carnot engine, which is the most thermodynamically perfect machine. This approach was clearly not the best, since the yield achieved within a cell cannot be ideal, but can we even measure it? Several models approach the living cell, since the very simple one (e.g. Prigogine model) to more elaborated proposals. The concept of entropy has been the centre of discussions within several scientific fields. To interpret how entropy is produced in the complicated system of a cell is as hard as to understand how life originated at the first place. Understanding the way a cell works is key in biology, medicine, and multiple other scientific fields. Thermodynamics is essential in multitude of processes around us. I give here an insight of what has been done and a personal opinion about the topic, focusing in the results from Himeoka and Kaneko paper.