Re: [DIYbio] Re: More efficient house heating or engineereing human body?

Matthias,

I don't think that ALL enzymes require 37°C.

There surely are some which handle cooler temperatures better than others, stochastic evolution. Those ones one would need to substitute/ augment by others.

Damage to the cells? This happens when freezing. But when the human body just gets a few degrees colder in it's "core", it may die.

On Fri, Nov 9, 2012 at 9:19 AM, Matthias Bock <mail@matthiasbock.net> wrote:

Some time ago, I read a blog post with one doing the maths that people could save a LOT of energy by turning their thermostats to 15°C, which should be quite bearable for mammals that have been evolving for millions of years and more.

...

Of course, he puts on warm clothes and had a heating lamp that heats just the spot where he sits ("why should I heat my books and my walls?")

Yes, you could save a lot of energy (and money, and CO2 etc.) by turning down your heater.
According to Vantaan Energia (http://www.tulikivi.com/usa-can/fireplaces/Heating_with_wood)
heating accounts for about half of an electrically (!) heated appartment's energy consumption
(electrical heating is very inefficient though, better heat with wood or gas).

At the end he gives a thought on this: Why shouldn't we engineer the human body to be able to withstand colder temperatures instead of heating? That could save a giant ammount of gas burnt and slow down climate change.

That's a giant undertaking, since really ALL biochemical processes in the body are optimized to about 37°C,
you immediately feel it, when it changes by only 1°C (fever / frost).

The temperature affects not only metabolic rates, but also protein-protein-, protein-DNA-, DNA-DNA- and protein-organic-
interactions. E.g. protein surfaces have evolved to bind with a certain probability at normothermia.
Reducing the temperature increases such binding, presumably non-linearly, leading e.g. to higher rates of false-positive signalling events.
Considering, that most protein structures (and thus surfaces) are unresolved yet,
the thought of engeneering is - let's say at least very far away.
Also reduced diffusion rates of signalling molecules could play a role.

I don't want to discuss the ethical aspects of this, but as anyone ever thought about this? What would we need to change the human body to withstand colder temperatures?

I guess, withstanding low temperates would be something different than re-engineering metabolism to a different optimum:
Probably it would e.g. be possible to add some ice crystal avoiding proteins from lizards to humans
in order to avoid physical frost damage to cells.
 

I assume it's just the enzymes that don't work at lower temperatures? So, basically, one would have to study all enzymes of the human body, identify the ones that don't work below 37°C,  and find homologous proteins in cold-tolerating bacteria / etc. and add this to the human genome?

See above: The cell contains not only enzymes (for metabolism), but also signalling, cytosceleton, DNA, DNA regulation and all that stuff.
Metabolism would be the smallest problem, I guess.

Another thing: Since really many animals are optimized to 37°C, you can expect
there to be more reasons, which favor exactly this temperature.
In fact (can't find the article now, sorry, maybe try googling if interested),
I read somewhere that also immunology is important here,
as bacterial (pathogen) growth rates vs. pathogen clearance rates (immunological efficiency) also need to be considered:
Pathogens are usually inhibited in growth by higher temperatures, as they
come from "the outside" and thus are adapted to lower temperatures.

Cheers! Matthias

--
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups DIYbio group. To post to this group, send email to diybio@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to diybio+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/diybio?hl=en
Learn more at www.diybio.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DIYbio" group.
To post to this group, send email to diybio@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to diybio+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/diybio?hl=en.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/diybio/-/YV60o7KEOzkJ.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.