THE CELL WAR

Pradeep Apte

THE CELL \MAR....

COMMENTS. . .

"I've been p1-eased to read the book"

DR LINUS PAULING

Double Noble laureate

"Amusing and instructive rr

-

_-_'...4G_ ---s'+*mtrs-

SIR RICHARD DOLL

Professor Emiritus#

Unj-versitY of OXFORDa lr - 'l

The rePublic of celt was facing

its greatest crisis of alltimes""

A split of the nation

was imminent....

DNA's',rePulation for being the

alltime master was at stake""

ff/ECEII WAN

PMDEEP APTE

"Unti1 philosophers are kings, orthe kings and princes of this worldhave the spirit and Power ofphilosophy,and pol itical greaLnessand wisdom meet in one, and thosecommoner natures ptlrsr-1e either tothe exclusion of the other arecompelled to stand aside, cities willnever have rest from their evils -nor nor the human racer ds f believe-and then only will this our state havea possibility of life and behold thelight of the day"

PLATO TN THE REPUBLTC / 375 B"C.

@ PradeeP APte 1993

NEW INDIA BOOKSMEDICARE 4i.15 OLD PAIASIAINDORE 452001 (MP) INDIA

110, GOLDEN POINT PALASIACHORAHA

INDORE (M.P.)

Printed bY : PANDIT PRINTERS

INDORE (M.P.)

40 YEARS OF THEDOUBLE HELIX

Dedicated to allthe scientists whohave contributed toany aspect related to

the double helix.

Contents

tr Trouble

tr The Republic I

tr The Republic ll

o lnveStigdting:thetrouble

n Antithesis

n Analysing the trouble

tr Ordered chaos, evil designs

tr Assasination

rr The M-Alternative

tr Preparing for action

tr Armageddon

tr Glossary

3

7

13

18

28

34

40

44

50

55

59

67

PREFACEA cell is the basic unit of living organisms, may it

be plants or animals. anything living thal we perceivd iscomposed of cells. Life exists in nature from unicellularorganisms to the more complicated multicellular ones.We all are, in fact, orginally conceived as a single cellthe zygote, a fusion product of the male and femile sexcells. This zygote undergoes a series of divisions and acomplicated procedure termed as 'differentiation' toform the ultimate human being. Several cells of similartype when grouped together form a tissue and thesetissues combine to form an organ like the liver or heart.These organs are arranged on the skeletal frameworkto give rise to the final assembly, the human body. Oneof the greatest wonders of nature is, that althoulh theindividual components of a cell when isolated arJ quiteinanate, but when composed into a single unit, life iscreated.

The study of the structrue and function of a cellhas been carried out for centuries and is still going on.It must be said to the credit of the large nurmber ofscientists involved in these studies that to-day the cellis. no longer a mystery. A landmark in the histdry of cellbiology came in the year 1953, when Watson and Crickpresented their model for the structure ofDeoxyribonucleic acid or DNA (which lateron won themthe Nobel prize along with Wilkins in 1961,). DNA is themaster molecule residing in the nucleus of a cell andgoverns the entire activities in it. lt was'rh4r-remarkablepaper published in 'Nature' (a prestigious scientificjournal) that has brought us so close to day to theunderstanding of the functioning of a cell. The structureand functioning of a cell is probably one of tilt, trest

(1)

organized systems known to man. The greatesttragedy, however has been that although we humanbeings are composed of such perfect units in our body,tend to behave in an unorganized manner and lackintegration, we have learnt nothing from our cells.

The entire human race to day is scattered, eachcountry living for its own selfish motives, integration andbrotherhood have almost vanished. No single nation inthe world can claim to be functioning with perfection andwithout problems within. Anti-nationalists exist insidethe countries itsef. The magnitude may vary, but I doubtwhether there is a country totally devoid ofantinationalisE, traitors or defectors.

A cell also faces similar problems inthe form of themost dreaded disease Cancer. Cancer is no singledisease, both its etiology and effects are very diverseand complex. Many cancer cells are known to producelarge arirounts of lactic acid. HoweveL the mostcoirmon denominator in allthe cases is an uncontrolleddivision of cells, a process commonly termed as'metastasis' leading to complete destruction.

Anti nationalist activities in a country and the cellcancer relationship is the essence off the analogy drawnin this story. Although quite unavoidable in the presentcontext, but every attempt has been made to keep thetechnical words ih a low key and understandable to awider audience.

Lastly, the student of classical biochemistry may,

at places find some fundamentals not conforming to thenorm, for which I remain to be forgiven. Thesedeviations have onlv been resorted to maintain thenarrative, as the find bbjective in addition to highlightingthe analogy stated above is to entertain.

INDOREAPRIL 1993

(2)

PRADEEP APTE

TROUBLE

lnspector Steroid was on the vigil in h,is car wher'

he heard the ,beep beep' of his transmitter, he switched

it on"DtoC.DtoC""C to D, I hear You well go on chief""Come here right away Ster""UrgenP""Yes""l'll be right there in a short while"

He switched off the transmitter and wondered

brieflv ls to what could be the reason for DNA.to

rrr",|,* nim right now, 'must be something serious'' he

thought.Quickly he swung his car and sped steadily

towards the Gene building.

The Lipid and Lipoprotein guards at the check

oost outsidb tne Gen'e building-had anticipated his

I"r"[ uJ they had heard the progressive decline and

increase in th6 volume of a shriil silen they so wetl kne.w.

in", too wondered as to what brought him back, as he

hadlust left on his usual round'

As soon as the inspector came they opened the

gate and atlowed him through.towards the building'. He

Sarked his car at his usua[dloted space and walked

biiir.ry towards the main entrance of the building'

The Gene building had a mammoth multistoried

double nenca structurel I was one of the architectural

*onou'softimeandwhenviewedfromadistancearroii loox"O like a spiral staircase' lt was. quite

impossible to make out the main entrance, which was

indented some where within the spirals at the base. lts

ipirif ioof. made it appear peculiar, but all the twists and

(3)

turns were deliberately built in order to fox intruders - ifthere were any. Anybody who had no idea of itsgeometry was.bound to get lost in the maze of spiralsand get caught ultimately as each nook and corner ofthe building were displayed on televised screens in thesecurity room at the base, which was manned roundthe clock.

lnspector Steroid moved towards the man on dutyat the reception desk and asked

"Where is the chief?""ln the scanning room and awaiting you sir"He thanked his informer and walked towards the

lift that would lead him to the upper floors where thescanning room and the research and analysis divisionwas located. On reaching the door of the scanningroom, he uttered his name onto a small squaremicrophone on the side of the door that identified hisvocal frequency. He waited for a few seconds as thedoor slid open, he walked in and the door slid closebehind him.

lnside the scanning room was a giant display unitthat showed about hundred screens arranged in rowsof ten that constantly gave a view of the various workingpoints in Cell.

DNA sat on a chair in front of the display unit withhis arms folded behind his head. He was staring in areverie at the unit, the inspectors arrival brought him tohis feet.

"Come dear Ster, I have been waiting for you, takea look at this ...."

He pressed a switch on the console in front of himand suddenly the lower line of ten screens displayedglowing red numbers. Each screen except the first oneshowed the digits "36" while the first one was showing"02".

(4)(5)

"Ah! power station one is running on low out put,

while the rest are functioning to full capacity" said the

inspector.

"Right Ster, but I have not sent in a 02 order'

Normally when we wish to shut down for maintenence

or to reduce excess power we run the stations on 02,

you know that, so this shut down is unexplained,

Moreover the screens displaying the activrties at Power

station One have completely blackened out'

On one of my routine checks I observed this and

began to investigate for cause. After considering allthe

possibilities I prepared my questionnaire and fed it in othe comPuter and ..."

"And what?"

"Come let us see".

They both walked into 16s adiacent room where

the computer of the research and analysis division was

installed. DNA moved towards the console of a display

screen and pressed a button on it and this was whatthe

computer had to saY :

REPORT ON POWER STATION ONE

UNITS AVA]LABLE ON FULL CAPACITY 36

UNITS AVAILABLE ON SHUT OFF ORDER 02

UNITS AVAIIABLE AT PRESENT 02

STATION NOT FUCTIONING TO FULL CAPACITY

CONVERSTIONSGLUCOSE

FROM START POINT

TO SS PYRUVATE TO SHUT OFF OPTIONI.ACTATE AS UNDER SFIUT OFF ORDERSPEED OF MOVEMENT RATHER HIGHBLOCK POSSIBLE BETVVEEN SS PYRUVATEAND SS CITRATEDATA INSUFFICIENT TO ANALYSE CAUSEThe inspector was the first to speak after a

prolonged silence.

"weil LDH who normaily contrors the pyruvate toLactate shift does not do so unless ordered,,

"yes but he is doing it and at a very rapid pace,,

"And what is pDH doing there?,,

"He is dead,,

".What?"

"l just received reports from a highly shaken upRepressor in that area to send in a new pDH to moveproceeding from Pyruvate to citrate as the old man wasdead"

"This is serious chief,'

"Precisely my friend, and.,,t[ want you toinvestigate"

(6) (7)

THE REPUBLIC I

When one tries to analyse the factors that enablea country or a nation to be successful, three mostobvious ones emerge. Firstly, the citizens of the countryitself, how hard working and comrnitted are they to theirwork and have the ability to think and correctly selecttheir leaders whom they consider could run the countrybest. Next comes the calibre and potentialof the leadersorthe ruling party that has been elected by a unanimousverdict or at least by a majority of the citizens vote. Andlastly, and which most vital of all comes the interactionbetween the citizens and their elected leaders for acommon cause and that is the welfare of the country.

This is of course a very broad classification, if weprobe deeper innumerable number of factors couldemerge and would depend on ones individualconceptsand thinking as to which he would put to the fore. Toachieve perfection in all these three aspects of nationbuilding may seem quite incomprehensible in moderntimes and such a utopic state would seem to benon-existent. Yet we know of a country that exists andhas achieved this not only in modern times, but hasdone so for centuries and will continue to do so ontoeternity, the name of the country is Cell.

Tracing back the history of Cell, we find that it wasquite primitive in the begining but as centuries elapsedit developed and developed and its whole ultrastructuregrewto gigantic proportionstilltothis day ithad becomea force tr; reckon with. Who were the people who builtthis nation? Who were their leaders? and how theyinteracted to make Cellallso powerfuland pedect? Thisis what would,follow as we proceed.

The most remarkable feature of Cell was the highlevelof diversity that existed in it. The people of Cellwere

lqrqgty d.ivided in four classes the Carbohydrates, theLipids, the Proteins and the Nucleic Acids. Severatsub-classes had emerged from these, largely Oue tointercaste marriages, rike the carbohydiateicrbsi nn"awith the Lipids to" toim tne

-eiyioripi6i, iht aip,;; ;iti.,

Proteins to form the Lipoproteini, the prot6in" *iin9arbohydrates to form Glycoproteins and ,o on.feople of the sub-classes follbwdd both their o"r"nt"i;faiths. several sub-classes also existed withirithe fourmajor classes, but they differed only in their size andaficonverged upon one ultimate faith.-

All the classes of Cell were so different in theirappearence, religions and customs that one couldalmost wonder that how could they all work in unisiontowalds.one goat and that was th6 prosparity of Cell.The Carbohydrates were the workei ctads ofihe C;ii,being very simple and sturdy in built they had a veryconestve nature and thus were mosily liked by all. Th6Lipids, on the other hqld were very cieticately built buistrong and had a highly reserve nature, thdy were asecretive class that did riot mix easily with oth6r peopleof Cell, yet it was this trait of theirs as we would sde laier,that made them play a vital role in the workinomachinery of cell. The proteins were the intelligentsiiof Cell, highly versatile in nature and size ariO naOprobably the most diverse roles to play in Cell. Theyexisted from midgets to giants and theii work too wairelative to their size. Finally the Nucleic Acids, they wereborn rulers though not as versatile as the proteins, butil *1. their ability to rule that gave them an edge overthe Proteins.

. fs. more.personal potential than destiny wouldhave it the Nucleic Acids that formed the Gene'party ofCell were elected unanimously to govern the country.Although the Proteins were strong contenders for tnisposition at one stage, but as time elapsed they too

conceeded to the superiority of the Nucleic Acids andthus the fate of Cellfell into the hands of the Gene party.

DNA was the head of the Gene party and he cameonto become the leader of Cell. DNA had a brilliant mindand was always very precise and to the point in hisstatements, he never wasted any words. To a mammothgathering that included almost the entire population ofCell and was covered on Radio and Television bv theNational Network, DNA thus gave his first nationwicleaddress in Nucleus, the capital of Cell.

"Citizens of Cell, the massive majority by whichyou people have elected me leader of this countryshows the amount of faith that you have in me and mvparty, I shalltryto the best of my ability to live upto youiexpectations. There arethree main objectivesthat twisnto convey you. Firstly, nobody shall ever remainunemployed in our country, each citizen however smallhe nnay be would have a job to do, no job would rneannonexistence in Cell.

. Secondly I would be very fair in my distribution ofwork. The potential of each individual would bescreened thoroughly and work would be allotedaccordingly, job satisfaction would always be borne inmind.

Thirdly, and which is most important of all I wish tomake you understand the concept of integration, yeSintegration, I want to see you all integrated'along withme as well. We shall stand united into one single iorce,all our efforts would be collaborative for oie singlecause and that is the welfare of Cell. How this wouldbebrought about is my bother, but your co-operation inachieving this is efiremely essential, as it is you citizensof Cellthat are going to be participants in this integrativesystem.

(8)(e)

So the time to act has come and we begin rightwith the word 'go' for a prosperitive tom o, rovi v"

Thank you"This was a historic speech that DNA had made,

the three pronged ideology that he had conveyeO *asto make a lastino impression in the minds of th6 peopeof Cell.

DNA was supported by a very able team ofleutenants, who werd other mehbers oitne eene pirty.r[e^f!reg.le1ding grolps werethe Messenger nr,rhi 6rmRNAs, the Transfer RNAs ortRNAs and thd nibosomilRNAs or rRNAs. The reasons aS to why they were socalled would emerge as we discuss tnbir rcltes ln tneworking machinery of Cell.

While DNA was conceiving his ideas for thefunctioning of. Cell,-the biggest ad-vantage he intendedto take was that of the veisatility of thd proteins. TheProteins were mainly compo3ed of Amino Acicllgquences (AA sequences) and these AAs being about22or so in number, could bb arranged into innurierablenumber of sequences to form isingte protein. Thefunction and identity of a protein was t6us governed bvits AA. s.equence. Thus

'with the help of- the RNAs,

pre-existing Proteins and free AAs that were available inlellol imported, DNA devised a process by which robotProteins could be made. These iobot prot6ins could beprecisely controlled and served specific roles. Theyresembled the pre-existing proteins to such an extentthat it was almost lmpossible to make out in a proteinpopulation as to which was a pre-existing one or arobot.

. . . Al his.large lggdquarters cafled the Gene buitdinginside Nucleus, DNA first devised a code, this cod6

(10)

basically consisted of four letters A,U,G and C, whereU could also be substituted by T. Thes. r"tt"i.-*"i"arranged in groups of three, this tripret *aJieimeo asa 'codon'. Thus by ditferent permutations anOcombinations a tota[ of 64 codbns *o; ]or*eOcorresponding to the 22 Ms. Thus for example:-

-'--

TRIPLET CODONJ-,

Codon sequence - AUG_AUC_GM-UGU_bGA

Msequence J,-Jr-J, J- J,in Protein

A large computer was installed and it was soprogrammed that all DNA had to do was to just spec,fytng.erolejl type he required and the computer woutdprint out the codon sequence for it. oevising th.-"oolw3.s a very arduous task and DNA had undertaken itwith.great care. Despite of number ot sieepbss "iilt!,that he.had spent over it, the ultimate resutii *er;;"ryrewarding.and the entire code became permenant.D_NA was the o_nly one who had an access to it and theroom where the computer was placed *rJ neirii,guarded. tn fact security in the entii'e buirding;nJ;*"around it was thorough.

.^^^.fgL:,? plA wished to make a particutar type ofroDor protein, he would summon a mhNR to hid bmceand hand him over the codon sequence tor tnai type ,:tprotein. tt was the.duty of the hRruRs-to ;r.itn;Iles:age to the sites or factories located o,itsiOeNuqeus, where the proteins were manufactured. Therewere lF ge number of factories and these il,e

"al"Jthe Ribosomes. The RibosomeJ--;;; - il;;;dome-shaped structures and tne-entiie'i"o.i"irY.i(1 1)

complex where these Ribosomes were clustered wascalled the Endoplasmic Reticulum or simply ER. Oncethe mRNAs had delivered the message inside thefactories, the Ribosomal RNAs or rRNAs took over.They fed the message into a computer that controlledan assembly line, which displayed the codons on ahorizontal surJace. The job of the transfer RNAs ortRNAs was to bring the AAs to the ribosomes and placethem exactly corresponding on a specific codonappearing on the assembly line for a specific A{. fs sssthat this juxtaposition was correctly maintained wasanother job of the rRNAs. After one AA had been placedthe assembly line moved ahead and space was vacantfor another codon and corresponding AA, once the nextM had been placed on the assembly line Proteinassemblors who were not robots welded the two Msand the line moved ahead for another codon and M.Thus the prooess of codon arrival, followed by Mplacement and subsequent welding continued on theassembly line till the entire message on the codonsequence had boen read and the robot Protein with thecorresponding AA-sequence had been formed.

DNA had very cleverly devised chain terminatingor "nonsense codons" that did not code for any AA andthese were placed at the end of the codon sequence.The arrival of a nonsense codon marked the end of theprocess and the assembly stopped and a robot Protein,

was ready. After coding for a Protein the codonsequence that had served its purpose, was removedfrom the computer and sealed in bags. These bagswere sent to an area in Cell called the Sink, where thesecodes were destroyed.

(12l,(13)

THE REPUBLIC II' There were two fundamental activities in Cell. Onewas the synthesis of food stuffs that required energy orpower and the second was the breakdown or autilization process that liberated energy. The carefulmaintenence of a balance between these two activitieswas of prime importance in Cell and it was largely in thisactivity that DNA integrated allthe Cellclasses. To carryout this activity DNA had divised a group of robotProteins called the "enzymes" that brought abouttheseconversions. Mainly the Carbohydrates and to a lesserextent the Lipids, helped in the build up and break dowhwith the help of enzymes.

The entire exercise involved the trapping of energyand its liberation in accordance to the requirments ofCell. For this to function efficiently one of the mostsophisticated type of power stations were built that werecalled the mitochondria. They were ten in number andalmost evenly distributed all over the area of Cell. lnsidethe mitochondria were built a series of generators thatwere computer controlled and liberated a large amountof power that was more than adequate for the entire Cellpopulation.

Located near the mitochondria, were the centralgrand stations or the main junctions, where all theconversion processes in that area invariably ended, thiswas called the citric acid cycle or the Kreb's Cycle. Asthe name implies the processes at these junctions werecyclic and constantly kept feeding the generators of themitochondria with electrons. The sub-station Citratewas the major inflow point in the cycle, in addition to thisthere were g other sub-stations constituting a total of 10that made up the entire Cycle.

T-he lajor duty alloted to the Carbohydrates wasthat of .taking part in the breakdown pro-cesses thatentered the citric acid cycle. The feeder iomponent thatwas extensively used was glucose. The su'pply of thisimportant substance was controlled by a bigj btirly mancalled Glycogen. He was a very powdrful uirion leadera bit rustic in his approach but'always delivered tlregoods.

The electrons primarily liberated through theKreb's cycle and to a lesser-extent directly frori otherconversions moved through a series of generatorsinside the mitochondria thbt was called th6 HectronTransport Chain or ETC. This liberated a large amount9f .91ergy or power that was subsequentry ltilized forbuilding up processes. The whole proiess was requiredto be carefully controlled and was very vast andmammothly distributed almost all over C6ll and thusrequired an enormous amount of man power. Thiscomplicated network was thus a majoi source ofemployment for the citizens of Cell.

A precise controtmechariismwli essential in thiscomplicated network. There were mainly two types ofcontrols involved in the working system, oneS'whichdirgqtly reported to DNA in the G-en6 building and oneswhich.operqted within the networ k. The onei reportingdirectly to DNA were a group of proteins catt'eO tn5Repressors. Tlle job of the Repressors was to keep theDNA informed as to which type of robot protein wasrequired and where, in addition to this they alsoconveyed a shut-off wherever needed. The secoid typeof control mechanism was an automatic feed b-a'ckcontrol existing within a single series of conversionsbrought about by the enzymes. Usually the last of endproduct of the series would move back io tothe enzymemediating the first step and signal it to stop the proc-ess.

Allthe amino acids that formed the proteins werenot available in Cell, some of them had to be importedand these were collectively called the Essential AAs(fen) or "MATTVILPHLY" each letter representing thefirst letter with which the M begins e.g.fid stanO-s forl/ethionine.

ln addition to this the other itom that had to beimported were the Vitamins that formed an integral partof structures called co-enzymes that were most vitat99lponents of the series of generators places in theETC of mitochondria.

Thus the import of Cell was largely centeredaround the EAAs and the Vitamins. ln order tocounterbalance this import and maintain a stableeconomy in Cell, DNA- utilized his protein synthesizingfactories for the manufacture of a group of Small roboiProteins ealled the hormones. Horrnones had atremendous value in the international market as theywere putto specialized functions by other countries th#were unable to manufacture them. That Cell ha.:become a hormone producer was a big boon to ttrecountry and highly boosted its economy.

The Lipids as mentioned earlier were verysecretive and did not mix easily with other citizens ofCell. Thus, DNA gave them a job that not only suitedtheir nature but was to probably play a most vital role inthe history of Cell. The Lipids formed the lnternalSecurity Department known as the ISD of Cell. Almostthe entire ISD was composed of Lipid members who incollaboration with robot Proteins called the structuralsand the cross-breeds the Lipoproteins formed thesecurity network within as well on the borders of Cell.

(r4) (15)

lnspector Steroid was the chief of lSD, he was a man ofstrength, extreme intelligence and astute judgementand stood out very prominently among the Lipid class.Prominently, because he had the typical steroidalfeatures that he had inherited from his family tree theSteroids.

The most vital points where you would invariablyfind ISD personnel was the borders of Cell, all roadsleading to and away from Nucleus, the boundries ofNucleus, in and around the Gene building, the industrialcomplex ER and around the power stations- themitochondria. Security was strictest in these areas andthe way in which the Lipids handled their job wasremarkable . Their checks were always thorough andrarely anybody without proper papers or identificationwas allowed through the check posts.

Regardless of the fact that whether the proteinswere the pre-existing ones or the robots the main typeswe have come across so far are-the assemblors in thefactories, the enzymes that.promoted conversions, thespecialized hormones that were of export value and thestructurals integrated with the Lipids in the lSD. Lastlywe come to one more specialized class called theimmunoglobins. The immunoglobins formed one of themost formidable defences of Cell. These Proteins werehighly trained in all form of warfare right from man toman combat to the commandos. The lmmunoglobinswere led by a very tough veteren of many wars and atotal discliplinarian and soldier to the core general lgG.The defence forces were completely under thecommand of general lgG and they never mixed with the

lSD. Their job was to solely counteract foreigninterference and even taketo war if necessary. AlthoughISD personnel were placed on the borders, but theyonly maintained a constant vigil and checked the in andoutflow of traffic. When it came to aggression, thelmmunoglobins took over, fought the enemies anddestroyed them.

The Gene building in Nucleus, the capital of Cellwas the controlcentre of allactivities. lt was divided intofive main units.

The ISD and control room where the repressorsreported were at the base.

The defence division and the foreign exchangedepartment were next.

Then came the code room, where the maincomputer programmed to deliver codon sequenceswas installed, adjacent to it was a catolog room andreference library, where files containing a detailedrecord of each person working in Cell was kept.

The research and analysis department, scanningsection and RNA offices followed.

On top of allwas the meeting room and the officeof DNA. Thus summing up, DNA had justified hisproclamation on coming to power. Every citizen of Cellhad a job to do which was in accordance to his potentialand liking. Above all, the concept of integration hadprecipitated automatically in the whole working systemof Cell.

I

(16) (17),

INVESTIGATING THE TROUBLEAfter reaving_DNA in the research and anarvsisdivision inspector-steroid oescenolo io*riil rt.ilr"of the Gene buitding. He was

" ,atn.iOirirGJ;;;,

the major reason Qling rris inioitity to d;aw lnv iir.thand concrusions aboulthe snJt oown at power stationone. He went into the contror room at the base and outin two cals to summon nis twooepriili. .:r.6-ililcTor.Parmitate and sub-inspector Lecithin. His oioeiJ;;;,brief "Report at once at the take ott point grrcoie oiiheglycolytic pathway at power station one.,,

. . -Although many conversion pathways entered intothe Kreb's cycle, th6 g[colyticpdinway, contributed bythe.carbohydrates was a major entrant into it. rt startedat-the glucose point, which was nence called the takeoff point and thereaft., go*rnrJ oy-a series ot.nivri".involving solne ten ste;ps tn"t ,ttirrtely ended-ip "tsub-station pyruvate. Now hereonwardsihere *.rri*ooptions, the "full

.capacity option,; and the ,,snut-oftoption"or the "forbidben 6ptibn." Both tne iteps *eiecontrolled by two giant robot enzymes called FOn to,the full.gaqryjlv opiion and LDH f6r the toiOiOoen onLNormally pDH wourd bring about tne conversion'JrPyruvate to citrate via an i-ntermeoiate ,no in" riiro-,cycle wourd be initiated. rn the whore exercise, startingfrom take off point gtucose gging tnrorgn tii" tirv.?iry,ilpathway and the- compleiion- of orie t<re6d

-ddi;electrons liberated in the process wourd oe reolntJnemitochondriar generators that wourd producJg6';;li;oT energy or power. Under the shut off conditions LDHwould act and convert pyruvate to Lactate thusrendering the Krebs. cycle n6n+unctionar anJbnd'O;unitsof power would b-e available from the electro,is otthe glycolytic pathway only.

(18)

All the pathways and the cycle were tubularstructures almost resembling atunnel, each sub-stationwithin the pathway was a chamber where theconversion products would accumulate. The chambersappeared like bulbous structures on the tubularpathway. The whole conversion network looked likebeads placed wide apart on a string. The robot enzymesfunctioned between the chambers and brought aboutthe conversions. Circuits carrying the electrons to themitochondrial generators existed on the tubularstructures. The robot enzymes either passed electronsto the circuit or withdrew them from the circuitdepending upon the nature of the conversion i.e.whether it was a breakdown or a buildup one,respectively. Within the tubular structures and encirclingthe chambers were continuous passages called the'manning routes' through which security personnel andother visitors could move around the entire network.

The inspectors and his two deputies a:'rived inquick succession at the take off point glucose of powerstation one. As they approached the entrance, theinspector briefed his deputies about the recenthappenings.

The first thing the three of them noticed was thelarge number of trucks standing outside the entranceand Glycogen was supervising the unloading of glucosecartons that were being carried inside.

"Move faster you lazy oafs, we still have manytruckloads to empty" he bawled at the workers.

The inspector approached him..."Why dlthis rush Glyco?""Ah! there you are I ask you the same""Since when have you been at it?"asked Lecithin.

(1e)

"All night, while you fellas were enjoying yoursleep, lwas sweating it out here, man l'd love a nap."

"Serious trouble inside there, we have come toinvestigate" said Palmitate.

"Bah investigate! that's all you ISD blokes do, nophysical labour like us Carbos, well buddies I hopeyou've had your share of lotuses"

"Cut the comedy Glyco" snapped the inspector"wish to join us in?"

"Nah, go ahead and do your.iob"

He went back to supervising his workers, whiletheinvestigative trio entered take off point glucose andstarted moving along the manning route.

'The nerve of him to call us lotus eaters"saidLecithin gravely.

''lgnore him and now hereonwards both of youkeep an eye on anything unusual you see, we have along way to go"

During their entire journey from the take off pointto sub-station Pyruvate, the only noticeable feature theyobserved was the abnormal speed of the glycolyticpathway.

lnside sub-station Pyruvate there was a

bifurcation, one leading to Lactate and the other toCitrate. There was a hushed up silence inside as allthesecurity guards stood aggregated neartne Citrateentrance. ihey were talking in low whrspers to eachother.

lhspector Steroid and his two deputiesapproached the group, the captain .of the groupconfroted him with a perplexed look on his face

(20)

''Well what goes on? and Captain I want thecomplete photo"

The captain began his story...

"When we arrived here, we noticed the movementof the path towards the forbidden option. At first wethought it was one of the routine shut off ordersoperating, but then we noticed that the guards in thisarea were missing, they seemed to have completelyvanished, it puzzled us, but very soon the causebecame evident. lf you will observe closely there seemsto be a sort of mist or fog on the entrance of Lactate.One of our men who attempted to enter, completelymelted or rather dissolved in the mist and another oneof them who went to rescue him lies here..."

The group moved and formed a circle around astretcher on which lay a guard covered with a sheet.The captain slowly removed the sheet and what theysaw stunned them. He was a Lipoprotein guard, someportions of his body were missing completely and somelooked like they had been eaten away by acid, he wasvery much dead.

''More Captain?""Still more Sir, please follow me"

They all moved inside the tunnel leading to Citrate,there on the manning route lay another stretcher whichtoo was covered by a sheet.

"Who is that?"'

"lt is PDH Sir and I am afraid a very gruesomesight to watch"

"Go ahead and uncover him"

What they saw made everybodies heart stopmomentarily. The inspector and his deputies were quite

(21)

hard men and.seen a lot of violence in their lives, butthis was so meth in g tnri'o-rri' Ihl. .r,

roor,iJ' .J'ti?u gnpDH had been oipipJ in l-t;rf',lr acid and taken out.His body was corhirt.glrty ;d;;il and eated away andthe process was 'still rjnl f;aii.and tiquid wa6 stilexuding out of tne OoOV ii"'Itlroy pace.

,. .__ _ Quickty !hl. ipp,".Jor. srirro il;o"sure andturned around towaros ni. j.p;il,

and said,'Now , *",nl!r9e things to b€ done immediately,firstty you patmis?,.?ry ;io"p drv*gen at once fromfeeding any more glucose ai tnitat e off point, Leci Ihope you have brolght voriiii'6rgz,,

"yes Sir,,

"Good, Use your suction OoT!g., on two things, Iwant the sampte_of tnis r(uroiffin,, body. you riustnave observed some or that-rioli"o' ti lXlr;il*Illsuard, tnai ai we,. Seai ;iruHtfiJl; Iffi',"^,:,flsent to the analyslg .oqnirtril. A;ptiiri;I.# ;Jtll,men to herp Sr Lecithin ih tre [io.".r and genilemen,be cautious of anything ydilniir, ,. you have seenthat the stuff is qnaffrie inTiiiii"g captain, makearrangements for both these oooi* to be sent to theanalysis department.,,

"Right away Sir',and the captain got busy orderingnts men, while Sl pa.lmitat" *"Jin nts way towards thetake off point and st r"ciinini^irl'opening his kit bag.Ever since he had entered sub.-station pyruvate,the inspector was

,constanfly thinx,ng of wavs toapproach LDH, he was very r<ei,n io at re;.ilr;;?i;iat him. After making a qui6f srrvey'of the Krebs cycleand confirmino itj.cfosure, n-.'il,rrned back to SSPyruvate, wher; he took ori nii trinsmitter and madea contact with DNA.

(22) (23l.

"C to D, C to D',"D to C, I hear you well, go on..,'The inspector gave him a complete account of the

events that had occured and finariy he presenteo anoutline of a plan that he had divisea'to captui" fOi.-

"Do you approve of it chief?,'

. "Irr, good and meanwhile I shall begin myanalysis as soon as the sampres and the boo-iJilrrive,I am..sending your requirements right away, gtLJ irtiSterl"

"Thank you chief.,'

^._^ ^9_nglhing wasjlear to the inspector and that was,

rnar rne onty way LDH could be approached would befrom the both ends, i.e. the entr'ance as well as theLactate exit. So he moved out of the glycolytic pJinwavan.d came to the take otf point grucos-e. nri.iri-.i. *"ia heated argument going on -between

OfVLog;; ;;;Palmitate.

. "r put in ail my efforts to bring these truckroads ofglucose and this fella tells me to laly off!,,"You will do as he.says, these are orders, you

would have understood had you come arong *iir-i uiinside, so do as you are told.'i

. Glycogen turned away mumbling curses andstopped the untoading of gtuiose into thdtake;ff d;t.

"come palmi lets make a short trip"Both sat in the inspectors car and began to driveout Palmitate took to the wheet."Where to?"

"To the outside of SS pyruvate-Lactateconnection"

After a short drive along the outside road of theglycolytic pathway, they ca-me to a halt ne", in"connection, on . their journey the rnspector toioPalmitate about his plan.

. '.ln all probability,' said the inspector ,,LDH is

alone inside there, now that he wourd have no *oik todo as we have stopped the feeding, he witt t<now thatwe know, so he wiil either move orJi or wage a oattie.He won't go inside, but may try to come out of the exitand morever his supply ot inai lethal stuff is noi goinbto last forever."

"The suction process should exhaust it earlier,,"Yes and I have called the commandos who would

cover both the ends."

. They got out of the car, and came and stood nearth? big tubular structure joining the bulboussub-stations.

"You wait here palmiand call me when the parliesarrive"

. The inspector moved towards the bulbous Lactateexit and began examining its outer side, from wneieusually Lactate was eliminated. There was somethingon the ground around the exit thet drew his attention]he bent down and looked at it curiously.

Just then Palmitate came running around ,,Sir, ourfriends seemed to have arrived.,'

-They both greeted the arrival of the two trucks, onewas from the defence department of cell and the otherfrom the maintenence unit.

(24')(25)

A sergeant and a foreman, who were obviousheads of the two units, got down and approached theinspector.

"Welcome friends, first tho maintenence job"headdressed the foreman ."1 want you to put in anevacuatisn oBeration, an exhaust operation to be exact.There ar6 several outlet points on that, you know them"ha said pointing towards the tubular structureconnecting the two sub-stations "fix your hoses ontothem in such a manner that they are evenly distributedand connect them to a vaccum pump. Collect theexhaust in steel cylinders, taking care that there are nolcaks. Go ahead and begin the assembly and wait formy signalto begin exhaust."

The foreman left and began his work, while theinspector then addressed the sergeant.

"Well sarge, I want you to split up your unit intotwo. The first group, that you will lead goes inside theglycolytic pathway and waits outside the Lactateentrance, keep a distance mind you and transmit meyour arrival immediately. The second group should beready at thc Lactate exit out here. Both groups willcharge in at my signal and sargo instruct your men notto kill. lwant our adversary alive and also approach withcaution. I hope your men are all geared up for this?"

"We are prepared Sir"

"Right then, Move"

The sergeant ran briskly towards his men, whilethe foreman returned to the inspector.

"We are all set sir, say when"

"Be ready and keep the exhaust capacity to full"

. fn." Iirst group of commandos drove away in theirtruck while the second took its position outiide theLactate exit.

. tr. lnspector went towards the second groupand toldthem to fix their detonators, as they woutd-navbto blast in and then he eagerly awaited thdarrivalof thetransrnit from group one.

Minutes rolled by as the inspectorwaited, justthenhe heard the'beep-beep'of his transmittel he 6witchedit on

"We are here Sir" spoke the sergeant"The mist is still there?""Yes"

"Hold on"He turned towards the forenran who was standing

behind hirn "Begin exhaust"Gra:iually the whole atmosphere vibrated in the

noise of the vacuum pumps. The inspector allowed afew minutes to elapse and then contacted the sergeantagain "Any change?"

"The mist is disapparing, well its almost gone andthe entrance looks clear"

"Then approach with caution and charge in""Right Sir""Come Palmi lets move, keep the exhausts on

while we we charge in" Both took out their guns andjoined group iwo at the exit

"Ok Boys blast the exit open"A loud explosion followed and while the smoke

from the explosion was still dying away, thecommandos, the inspector and his deputy entered SSLactate.

(26) (27],

The whole attack on LDH had been executed with

such precise timing that it came quite suddenly on him.

He could see that he was being charged in from both

ends, he keJlt his spray gun on, it was emitting a foggy

substance

Brrt rl wir:; of no avail as the exhaust pumps v't )oon:,iriuttly drirrleyirrt; it away out of the chamber. Just

tlrt;n hu rotittut I ;r rlt;rl ort the gun that was now no longer

ernrttrnr; tlrl lot;, Irtrl rt lormed a spray of liquid. He kept:iwrr{lrrrlllr(! (lr,rr from end to end, as he knew itwasIrr:; l;r:,t rcsort and that was the only thing that couldkuu;r ltr:; attackers at bay, But the spray gradually

slowed down and stop;:ed with a'phut.' He shook the

cylinder attached to the gun vigorously but nothinghappened, his stock had exhausted and he knew he

was licked.

"surrender LDH, you have done your lot" shoutedllto ln:;poctor'.

llLrt tIrtrrr, tto clrd the inevitatrle ancnhe iISpecl,lr hadIorrll lc;rrntlrl irtttl hts last hopes of taking LDH alive had(fonlr ;rs tlrcy irll observed him swallow and collapseirlrrro:;l rrrst;rrrtarteously on the floor.

"l)ilrnn rt, he has taken the capsule" He mutteredirr despair and then shouted an order to all the men

"Do not approach him at once as the liquid is still

around, cover up the floor with steel planks and andhave his body sent to the analysis department and men

do not forget his weapon, that goes along as well."

ANTITHESIS

. The study of criminal behaviour is a very cornplexissue. For centuries, psychorogists and scieritists liavem3dg attempts to analyse criminal minds. Not onlyminds, but even attempts have been made to look forbiochemical differences, the theory of the extra ychromosome is a result of this. Looking through all thestudies we find that criminal behaviourLan be-groupedbroadly into three cate-gories. First are the psyiopitnsor people who are suffering from a totally wrect<6d uppsyche; this state may be permenant or intermittent.depending upon the d-egred or nature of the Aisor&;.The trouble with such people is a highly physiologicalone, related to their nervous system, iG d Oisdase. Suchpeople mostly indulge in violence or assault without amotive. Next come the criminals who indulge inorganized crime for a personal benefit, a majoiity otthem fallin this category. The act may involve a 6ig O'ant<robbery, lpetty theft, murdeq swindling, smuggliig andwhat not. The act may be committed by a lone6p#atoror in.groups, but the indulgent is in nb way insane, infact they have brilliant minds and the whol6 job is wellplanned or organized. Lastly comes the catejory of thefanatics, their involvement in crime is pur6ty'for anideology or belief or even religion. When'such mattersare- dragged into a criminal act matters become verydelicate. Even a law abiding citized is unable t6comprehend ag to which is more important the ideologyor the crime.

The effect can be very devastating if all these threecategories are blended in to one single personality, ANDwas one such character.

During the early stages of Cell, when the Nucleicacids lead by DNA were forming the Gene party, AND

(28) (2s)

was a member of the group. But he had always been amenace to the party, all his ideas were very muchconverse to those put forth by DNA in his manifesto.AND had always made attempts to break up the partyand form his own group, the only trouble was that helacRed B substantral support from the other members.Not only the Nucleic Acids but oven other classes of Celldatagtad hls very presonce. A stage had come when hebecame an ostracisized member, totally isolated andahunnad by all. His being alone also made him a targetfor rldleula and lt w6s this approach of the other peopleof csllthat sowed tho seeds of wrath in his mind. Despiteof all his defects, AND was bestowed with a brilliant mindand lt was probably only DNA who understood this andalways prevented others from mocking at him.

"We should try and make him like us, he is one of .us so we should reason with him"

"Reason? dammit DNA, you very well know thatfanaticism never conforms to reason and AND is a 3-Dfanatic" argued the RNAs.

By 3-D they meant Disintegrate, Destroy andDlvtdc and that is what AND used to always propose,tre wanted the Gone party to rule like tyrants.

"But lf we at least try he can be put to excellentugeg ln eell"

"lt is futile DNA, all that he deserves is a paddedloek up or exile forever, his ideas are harmful and the3-D concept will someday wreck us all"

Had DNA at that stage heeded to the words ofother members of the Gene party, the catastrophe thatfollowed in Cell would have never occured. But DNAwas a very open hearted and considerate man, healways believed in giving a fair chance to everybody.

Ultimately the day arrived when duties to all themembers of cell had to be ailotted and finalry the mostdreaded question arose as to what was to be done ofAND? What work should be given to him?

After a heated debate in the party it was decidedthat AND would be in charge of the Sink. The Sink wasan area in Cell quite far away from Nucleus and was thejunkyard of cell. Allthe junk from Cell may it be outdatednon-functional robots or used up codori sequences orunwanted material of any sort, would be dumped in thesink. lt was like a giant garbage can and AND was madethe head of this unit, his duty was to see to it that all thewaste was destroyed and if any useful materials couldbe still isolated, sent back to other parts of Cr- i forre-utilization. All the members of the pirty thought thatthis job would suit him, as he could give vent to-his lustfor destruction in the process.

But this decision that was reached unanimouslyonly glrve more fuelto the fire of hatred already il;;gin AND's head, he took it as a rebuke and f'elt highl!humiliated.

"The baggars" was allthat he said and then fellsilent. He never uttered a word thereafter and once hehad moved to his premises the people of Cell saw lessof him. 'obliterated in the litter' was allthat they thoughtof him.

DNA had never liked the approach of his colleguestowards AND and the total silence that AND-hadobserved on his departure worried him allthe more. Butas the years rolled by AND had almost become aforgoften entity in Cell.

The Sink was a very large area in Cell, it wasactually a big depression or a gigantic valley that went

(30)

very deep down. At the base of the valley was built thedisposal unit. Truckloads ofdiscardedmaterial wouldarrive here and then a process of manual classificationwould begin. The entire 'trash'would be sorted out anddepending upon the nature of the material it would befed into specialized chambers that contained all therequirements to destroy a particular type of substance.The destruction was always total leaving no debris atall. The disposal r-rnit consisted of a big hall where thesorting out used to be done and from the hall severaloutlets containing conveyor belts led to the destructioncharnbers. Attached to the hallwas a smalloffice whereAND used to sit.

The people who worked in sink came from alnrostall classes of cell and they too, were mostly the discardsor criminals who were serving a sentence. They mostlydid the work of sorting out and feeding the chamberswith the trash. These workers were never kept likeconventional prisoners they formed a small settlementin the valley near the disposal unit, and AND lived withthem.

It was hera in Sink that AND built his empire. Thegestatlon perriod involved in the building up process wasn v6r.y lnng orre. Ihe first thing AND realized, to be done,wns to gain n totnlfnith of the people working under himand in thls began s proeess of gradual indoctrination.At flrst ll were only small groups that he would addressrn tho settlement but gradually these groups grew largerand a day had arrived when everybody dwelling in sinkbegan to look upon AND as their almiEhty master.'Theessence of his ideology had been the 3-D concept, thefirst two Ds i.e. Disintegrate and Destroy would be usedto achieve the third D i"e. Divide. This he said would givebirth to a new nation that would be called 'Neoplasia'and the party that would govern the country would be

(31)

called the Oncoggne pqrty.. Once the absolute faith ofthe peopre working uhoei nim nlo been estabtished,AND began him. preparations. Be'iow the disposar unitan underground'areb,was oug;;t which consisted ofseveral rooms jo-ined ov tunierJ. All ihe-;irji-U":ngdiscarded bv cbrr was riot d"iii6veo, out iitei ;;;;gthroush the destruglion .ri*'i,il i#;A ;i'#io*,where AND set up his taOoritori'-The task that AND had undertaken was

fl{t_enging o.ne and it was OV nis sheer briliance,rngenuity and skill . that he succeeded. nu r.norifyconcentrated on the eodon sequences and thediscraded robot proteins thii rr"O to arrive, Bit by bit,at times frustrating at timei ,"*rrii"6,',ffi "o!ir#,

painstaking but a1ter..99veqif yeais of work AND hadcracked the code buitt be or.rA. H. nri'*iii.il;;1,that gave him a ctear cut' ioea'ot tne -reiaiionlilip

between the codon.sequences and tn" aa_rrqil"imof the.proteins. fignl fieb* inere deep down in Sinkfrom the discards-of Cell, nf.fO-"rurted a miniaturereplica of Cell. tt was dfmosi as though he hadestablished celr within cerr. eui in ail ffre F..u1.'tLllcked only one thing anOinat *as rot siucls;,l; 69 Jeo in his "rdTgBS'3i,:,:'?llmitochondrion. Moreover he nao iiio not succeeded ingetting a complete. glycolytic pitn*ay functional. Forthis reason he'decid"e6 thii; [r,pl=q of the pathway

yvag the only alternative, insteiO -he

rntended to useLactate as a feeder. From f,iitrp.riments he haddiscovered that LDH was " Orul.enzyme, it couldconvert pyruvateto Lactate and vice-versi. so if Lacdi;

99u.ld get converted to nyruvaG-using iori iffi fr;Krebs cycte coutd be stiit iil;ithodi tn" gty."ryti.Pllly"y Atthough the units ol nowl, woutd not be 36,bu-t they wourd'nt be ress that 30 eithlr, which wourd stiilsutfice for Neoplasia to thrive.

(32)(33)

This Lactate AND intended to pilfer from Cell.Lactate did arrive in the Sink but it was in very minutequantities. He needed more amounts, not oniy to runhis power station but to also have a substantih stockfor the near future. He felt delighted at the whole ideaas it would serve a dualpurpose. ln addition to its beingput to usc in Neoplasia, the Lactate suck from Ce'iiwould render its Krebs cycle non-funtional, thuswcakenlng its power resources.

The tankers carrying the first consignment of thepllfered Lactata from Cell was me[ with greatanthusiasm in thc Sink. AND approached tnJfirsttanker,

"Well done boys and get the stuff below fast, butwhere is that blasted LDH?"

"Well I am afraid master that he could'nt make it"said the driver, who was once a Lipid guard.

"why?""The drivel of the last tanker that was loaded said

thal he wanted one more refil to be sent and then hewould quit and come along with that tanker."

"The fool, he should have come with you asplanned, I hope those Cell guys dont take hirir alive,anyway we are not going to send any more refils forthetime being."

"But what about the LDH over there?,,"Let him pay the price for disobedience""They would kill him!""Come man freedom cannot be achieved without

sacrifices, this is only our first move we still have a longway to go."

ANALYSING THE TROUBLE

It did not take DNA very long to complete hisanalysis of the samples and bodles received frompower station one. The highly equipped laboratory inthe research and analysis division made things eaSierfor him. The results of the analysis however,-not onlyworried him but startled him as well. He felt that t6assess the whole situation a meeting of all the Cellheads was necessary.

It was on top of the Gene building in the meetingroom, which resembled a miniature auditorium, thJtthey all assembled. The group consisted of the RNAs,general lgG, lnspector Steroid and Glycogen. All themembers of the group found Glycogen;s humour quiteundigestable, yet they got on with it and by now had gotused to it.

He started right away."These RNAs remind me of dumb cows',"Do you know why we are here?,' asked the

inspector."Oh yes, you seem to have found a bomb down

there, I hope you sit on it when it goes -bang,'saidGlycogen.

Nobody laughed, he continued "Well, well, look atour general, he looks like a pregnant sow, its high timeyou did something about that" and pointed towards thegeneral's belly.

. "Come now, Glyco, be serious for a change andquit poking at us" said the general.

"Hah[ pokingl that's a good word" and he burstinto a fit of laughter.

Again nobody laughed and sensing theatmosphere, he too curbed himself with a tremendouseffort and settled down in his customary chair.

At that moment DNA entered the room, they allstood up in respect he waved his hand as he movedtowards the dias on the stage.

"Sit down friends"

Once everybody had settled, DNA began..' Wcll gclttkrrrron by now you must be aware of the

Ital)lrerrrngg at power station one. The reason for mycalllng you all ts, so that you understand theserloucness of the sitution and to devise countermea5uf6s by common agreement amongst us. I beginwlth reports I have on the two bodies and the cause oftheir death. lf you all will observe, there are threeaspects of these deaths. First, the lipid guard dissolvedcompetely in the foggy substance. TWo the Lipoproteinguard partly dissolved and was partly eaten away andthirdly PDH was almost completely eaten away by thesubstance. The reason for this pattern will be clear oncewe look into the chemical nature of the substance. Ouranalysis shows that it consist of three organic solvents,chloroform, ether and ethyl alcohol and anothercomponent called a protease. The substance wasstored originally in liquid form in a cylinder which wasattached to a spray gun. The entire molecular status ofthe substance can be controlled by rotating a dial onthe spray gun. Thus the gun can eigher emit the liquidin its original state or in a more activated or vapourizedstate. The liquid state is usefulfor a direct hit on say oneor two targets and the vapourized state renders thewhole atmospherefoggy, thus covering a larger surfacearea. The effect of the substance in either state isunaltered."

(34) (35)

_-__ '1. must say it is an ingenious weapon,, said the

. "lndeed lgG, and the creator a mastermind, for whoeverhas made this substance, knew that lipids completely dissolve inorganic solvents and Proteins are split apart by proteases. Thatalso explains the Lipoproteins condition, his tifilo portions weremissing as they were completely dissolved in the organic solventsand his protein portions got eaten away by the prdtease."

"But wont the organic solvents inactivate theprotease?" asked one oithe RNAs."No, becaupe. i1 the original liquid the protease isin an immobirized state or rrtfiri it ir encapsurated andthus th,e organic sotvents oo not ettect ii;b;t;;;;.I i,onty when the capsute touchei tFi;t", IJilili th;it ruptures and bdgins its lethiietfect,,"But who should do it? and why?,, spoke thegeneral"Here I would like my friend Ster to saysomething" '"Obviouslv whoever has indulged in the act wasafter only q1e tfiing and that is t_ictic acid or Lactate aswe r.nay cail it. r observed tyre marks ortin[ers

"riiiiithe Lactate exit and it rooi<eo al inougn not one butmany tanker loads seemed to have bden tak;;lr;;there.."

_ "Bah! who would need that useless stuff,,pty9o.ge1 spoke for the first time rin.. the discusrion,had started

"lt is not useless for our party in concern here, forhe who could devise such a'tantastii w;;pr; *d;i;also have the ingenuity to pri lr.trte to use. Butwhatever be his "yseq,'ne witi O.inrt"ty crippte ourpower resources if hedoes it repeatedty ano tniils wnaimakes this a serious issue,'.

(36)

"But why should our LDH indulge in the crime?he is always under your control chief" said anotherRNA.

"All our LDHs functioning at all power stations areunder my control, but this one was not our LDH" DNAreptied.

"How come?" asked the general."Werll I and Ster studied all the LDH files before

eomrrlg hore, their record is impeccable. All of themrusrrally consist of four sulr-units, which are of two types]{ iurtl M llrus, ttrere are five types of LDHs that can betrrntltl"

l)NA rrrovocj towards the blackboard behind himitnrlwrote. ..

LDH typeI

2345

Sub-unit compositiolHHHI.,HHHMHHMMHMMMMMMM

"They all look identical and can never berltffcrnnlrrtod outwardly, they also function similarly. lnurrr :iyslerrr trere we have always used the type 2, butirller :itrrtiyrrrg.l the body of the dead LDIi that weroeorvctl, wr+ found that the M subunit was missing andre;rlaced by an H sub-unit, so he was type 1".

"But what happened to our LDH at power stationone?" again it was the general.

"When the attack on the station occured, no LDHwas on duty over there as the station was functioningto full capacity. Normally we only send in an LDH whena shut off is required" .

"Any counter measures against that stuff?" saidan RNA.

(37)

"For the organic solvents we cannot do muchexcept to use polyethene or teflon suits i.e. ,.niuu. uphysicar shierd. But for tnr -pioi.use

we have anantagonist and these substanies are cailed pioGu*inhibitors. Thus if a.person

"rOit* nimseit v,[tn i;;;"inhibitors, the oossibility of.the piot.as, eating tn.rgnhim is less or almost hririii.ol untess or course, theprotease dose is substantiallv targe .norli "ioovercome the inhibitor,s effect,' '

"But who the hell has done all this?,, it wasGlycogen this time."We are coming to that my friend,, said DNA,, Iwish Ster that you takL over', ' "

, , . ".ln all probablity I can only assume that AND isbehind this.. ""AND!" said many in unision

. "Yes, all the pointers are towards him and theLactic acid removai confirms our doubts. w" cnecr."iall over cell and found that nowhere-have theilir;ri;;;beel seen, nor have they been transported out of Cellso the only obvious plac-e they have gone is thesin[.The only thing that we are quite unabTe to unoeistanois his motive oinino .r is pirelafl.t'*.rken our powerl::yi::_=lye?,.but Jor w_lrat?- i personaily feet tn'iitnisrs onty tne.begining, he will strike again an6 use this ployto pur forth his demands....,,

"Dernands! to blackmarl.' us for them? whatgodammened demands can he have?,, inteaecieO'if[-general

"Whatever they are but I am afraid they would,ntbe far off. At present we can only prepare ourselves andwait for him to make the next move. As to what has tobe done now our chief would tell us,'

(38) (3e)

"First of all Glyco, you would have to be very

tilscr'cet irt yottr distribution of glucose at all power,;lirlron:; Knnp yurrr supplies ample but be very cautiouswhrlo llrn 1lhrt:osc is being fed. Secondly, general we

wur rlr I ltkn yt ltr ttre help us in some internal work as well.

l wnnl you lo prut in extra commando and other units at

nrrr:lr :;l;rtion, as you would form the first line of defence.

I wrll rnake the protease inhibitors available, that your

rrrnrr woulclutilize to embalm themselves. You, Ster keepynut l:il) rnr)n on the second line after the

uninurrot;krtrrns. ln fact all three of you, Glyco, theunnrlroi;lobins and ISD members have to work in

cu ordrnation, without which it would be quite difficult torefute any furthers attacks from AND. Although I wouldrnaintain a constant vigil on each station on our displaytrnit, but if ihe screens blacken out as they did earlier I

woulrl'nt know what is going on. Of course it would onlyir!rlir:nln ir lroutlle shooting, but l'll put in morertrlrtriieurf; ovnrywtrrlre to keep me informed, anyr 1t te=lloIr:r'l"

"Wlrirl rkr wo llNAs do?" one of the RNAs asked

"l r rr llra lrrrre lrerng I do not think you would havernrrr:lr to clo except to keep our factories running as

Lrsu;rl. Because, our work at present mostly involvesthese three" DNA said pointing towards Glycogen,general lgG and inspector Steroid, "So, gentlemen weshall all be on our toes and keep our fingers crossed"

The meeting was adjourned.

ORDERED CHAOS, EVIL DESIGNS .

Whatfollowed hereafterwas aseries of moves andcounter moves by both the sides. one thing er.ro n'aorealized and that was that, celr at any cos[ could notshut off all its power stations as that w5uld be suiiidaiSo this gave him an ample number of choices as towhere and when to attack. The strategy that he hadqlopted was very clear, pilfer Lactaill- at any cost.Although both the immilnoglobins and the ISOmembers made ev_ery attempt to defy the invader=, Gtask was. quite difficurt. The greatest probrems aioi.yhg! multiple attacks were taunched, by tne time tneyhad just managed to save one station, a Lactate sucftwould begin at another and another. Matters becamemore complicated as the Oncogeno members werenone otherthan defectors from the cell population itself,thus it was very difficurt for the security personner tomake out as to who was who. Even if thby did manageto detect their enemies, the outcome *ou[d be a viore"ntfight between both the parties. In allthe confrontationsthat took place it was invariably the Oncogen" qrorpthat-had an upper hand, for they too were Is bfiiteO ihwarfare as the immunoglobins-or the ISD members.Above allthey possessed that lethalweapon which wascoupled by excellent training that AND h'ad imparted tothern, specially suited for terrorist activities ahd masssabotage.

The counter measures adopted by the Cellsoldiers worked to a very meagre extent, Firstly the suitsworn by the ISD members were very cumbersome andthis highly slowed down their movements as there was

1+o)

vory lrttle :ipitco for body movement. The proteasehrltllrllnr!i u:ic(l lry ttro imrnunoglobins a,lsOhad theirllrrrllaltur rli, l)n(:,ru!i(l rr cnsos of prolonged exposure tollr' prrln;r:,*, il w;rs the prote:rse which ultimately,wonrtrttl Itc(lirtr ilr; lethal effeet.

(ilycogen was one porson who suffered most inItri:; perrod, he would be seon running from station tost.tion supplying glucose at some and hording it backat others. To comply the repeated orders of feed andhold back over an area of ten stations was a horrendoustask. lnspector steroic and his two deputies sl Lecithinand Sl Palmitate along with generil lgG had alsobecom_e quite weary in the whorebperatiori. Forthe timebeing Cell had severed all its links with the Sink and amake shift disposal unit had been built. This unit too wasquite active, as come what may there is no e"O ior;arbage.

I lre rcpeated attacks by the Oncogene group had

rli::rurlr.tt rrr' whore power supply of c6n. rnTs suiooenurrfur-qotlr r:n!irl:; lnarle DNA an extremely worried man.

Mecrrr wlrrr* rrr the sink the activity was hectic..Thekiluo urrrourrl ol I ;rr:lale thst had been stoleh from cellwrr:i lroirr1; :;rorcrl cruefully. At this time AND called for arrrflcllrrl; irt llrG rrnderground headquarters of the( )rr.r1;,rr* yrHrty I he participants inclu'ded a varietv oirl'l,cr.r:; lr,rn cell, including some discards wirotwere

"Our boys have done well" said AND,,,but beforewe put forward our demand I want'two thingrs to b6done, you said thatthere were some more peopre readv .

do defect?" he asked one ex-commando.'- - -r'-

"Yes, two of them are Lipid guards in the Genebuilding and one of them a RepresSor,'

(41)

. "Tellthem to hord their positions forthe time being3q they would have very im$ortant jobs to oo. rnrliistthing that I want to be cione is this..".,,

He took out a. sheet of paper and placed it on a.table pefole him, others crcwbeb arouncj the table;ndstared at the paper.

"This is a birds eye-view of the Gene building andthe entire area arounci it. Rre both the grarOs ;;duiyat the check post on the main gate?,,

.. '. No, one of them is posted inside the building andthe other one is i1 tg-ct a captain at the *uin dd brithe duties keep shuffling',

"l hope you can arrange it through the captain tohave the other guard to be r]nder himlor some'timez;

"Yes it can be done',"Good, than this is what they will have to do.....,,He told them..After they alt had heard thd plan the

ex-commando spoke."But master it is a very risky operation, can both

of them m.anage or should we renObr sor*'n"lp tro,our side?"

. "They should and they will, moreover thev areabove.suspic.ion for the time-being and once tne 'i.:O iioone, I is done, then I do not think the Cell guyi can

"But why tl-iis particular target?;'"Because he is an imponant Cellhead, the impact

would be trernendous and the ingredi;hi, oi-rvweapon make him most suited for the purpose, I hav6specially designed it for him, The secon'O tfiing i;rnt iobe done is....."

(42l. (43)

He opened the drawer of the table and extracteda small metallic device and placed it on the table.

"What is that?""Cell's epitaph""What?"

"As I said Cell's epitaph, I cell it the M-alternativeinitiator. The dovice shall be only put to use in case theydo not concede to our demand, lwant itto be implanteilrnto the main computer and that is where the Repressorcornes into the plan, rts his job to do it"

"lIrt wlrlrr wrll he do it? the computer room is soIrnnvtly grrrutkrd"

"l eiolsl, cant you see the obvious? while the twoguurds are doing their job, the Repressor does his. lthas to be well timed, as when the guards would havefinished our target, it would create quite a commotion.It is during this shofi period that the Represeor wouldgal arr oppurtunity to slip into the computer room andInr;rlant lhe device at B point which I would specify"

All tlre defectors and discards including theEx.co,Rntando looked at AND in sheer disbelief andadrnlratiorr. He acJdressed the ex-commando again.

''lt is your Job to brief these three men on the entireoperation. Iake this device and the weapon along withyou and also don't forget to tell them that there is noplace in Neoplasia for persens who have failed. Let thepilfer of Lactate continue for: the time being, anyquestions?"

There were none.

ASSASINATION

General lgC was q very punctual man, his dailymoVements withrn the Gene building and around Ceilwere like ctockwork. People working around the areaadjusted their watches 6n seeing -him. Ever; sincetrouble had started in Cell, the general had nevergl?.nged his routine, nor did he evJr use the proteaseinhibitor to embalm himself. lt was somehow alainst hisprinciples, he always thought that if ever the situationarose he would fight it out rather that depend on aprotective agent like the inhibitor.

Al the main gate the captain of the guards and theother Lipid guard, who had now been transfered underhim, waited anxiously. They were looking at both sidesof the gate. The captain managed to corner his 'accomplice alone for a short white .,That blastedRepressor has not arrived yet; the old man would behere _any moment" he said in a low tone''-ll hope youare all set for the...."

"There he is" said the guard

"Ah! come''

Both of them moved towards the Repressor whohad arrived, the guard took on the task of frisking himand then allowed him through. Theotherguards did not .bother as they took it as the usual routine.

As the Repressor moved past the captain hewhispered

"l am on my way"

"Make it snappy we have'nt much time',

(44).

(45)

As the Repressor entered the Gene building,general lgG came out. The general had an odd habit ofparking his car outside the main gate rather than theusualcar park nearthe building. He didthis deliberately,as he used to say that it allowed his some distance towalk and hence served as an excersise. The generalbegan moving in long strides towards the main gate.The Repressor had reached the floor on which the maincomputer was installed and was looking through one ofthe windows in the spirals at what was to happen below.

As the general was approaching the gate, theguard unfastened his holster which contained a spraygun and was loaded for one blast only, as the hiding ofan accessory cylinder would have been conspicuous.The captain too moved his hand on his gun.

At that moment, as the general had come verynoar the gate, the soldier in him evoked his dangerinstincts. The guard confronted himwith the spray gun,and straight away gave him afull blast of that lethal liquidspecially formulated for this target. Although the geneYalhad sensed the danger, age and body bulk hacl highlyslowad down hls reflexes, he did try to duck and sprangal the guard holdlng his neck, but the liquid had begunIta aotlun, A eplll aaeond latot the captain shotthe guardfrom bghind, Then he ran towards the pair and heJd therlaad puard and quickly slipped a piece of folded paperinto the breast poeket of the dead guard. lt waspre-planned that th'e guard had to be shot after he hadserved his purpose.

The etfect of the liquid on the General wasinstantaneous. lt spliced his body into three pieces, thehead slid away from the neck and the remaining torsosplit right through the middle into two. lt was a ghasilysight. The Repressor who had witnessed all this rantowards the door of the computer room snfl presseda.button which rang a bellinside. The operators came out

"tvhat is it?""The general has been killed at the main gate!,,"Oh my gosh!"

Allthe operators started running down. AND hadbeen right, the effect of the killing waJso,strong that ;llthe workers including the secu-rity staff had f"ft ihJ,positions and were }ushing towirds tn", *ain trt.leaving the securityloom unmanned. rtwas a calcuritedrisk, but it worked. The Repressor'ran towards thecomputer and located the portion from where the codeswere printed out. He opened the printout unit with ascrew driver and placed the small metallic device insidein a position specified to him and again ctosed up theunit.

Thereafter, he joined the crowds outside.

. Jhey all assembled again in the meeting room ofthe Gene building,..the atmosphere was extremelytense. They all satwith their heads down, in silence. Th6RNAs looked confused while Glycogen bore a hagqardlook on his face and for once he tEn totally oev6io othumour, the generals chair was empW and-evervbodvfelt very bad about it. lnspector Steroid, who usuafy waia. very active participant in these meetings wds asgloomy as the,others and sat staring at theioof.

Quietly DNA began the proceedings ..."l can understand your feelings, the assasination

of the general is indeed a tremendous blow to ourc9u1try. As we had all.guessed earlier, this is the doingof AND and the members of his so called Oncogen6party. The general was in fact infallible, but- thesubstance this time used was nothing but a mixture oftwo specific types of.proteases Trypsi- and papain, thatcan split immunoglobins into threb parts as you all,'saw.

fhe loss that we have suffered is irrepairable for the timebeing; but a more serious question arises now and that

"Demands? when did they arrive?" asked an RNA"lt is only one demand which was found on the

dead guard. The captain at the gate who is absconding,along with this dead guard had conspired with th-eOncogene group in this assasination ..."

"IChief, sorry to interrupt, but you have mentionedthe Oncogene party twice, how do you know of itsexistence?') :

"l am coming to that, this note recovered on thedead guard is signed by AND and he calls himself theleader of the Oncogene party. Their demand is to havea separate nation that they would call, Neoplasia"

"Neoplasia? but this is preposterous chief!" theinspector spoke for the first time.

"True Ster, and I am not going to concede to thistlernand at any lost...."

'Why not glv6 hlm the 1;txtarnn nation and be donewlth lt" said Glycogen

"Gome my friend you do not realize theimplications of conceding. Once Cell is divided it wouldinitiate successive divisions a process called,'metastasis'. Every new country would be governed bythe oncogqne..g ario as you hav'e atiseen inEi nivJ onrithree aims in life - destroy, disintegrate and biviOe. fn6net outcome of the process woutd mean tgtaldestruction and death to all"

There was an aching silence in the room.

(471(46)

"So what do we do?,,asked the inspector"AND has given us 24 hours to reply and if we do

not concede he wiil raunch a finar assaurt that he cailsthe M-alternative which he claims would destroy cellforall times. Let him do what he rikes but we wifl notconcede, we wiil face the situation whateverfoilows. ceilcannot be destroyed that easily, Let AND think thbt heholds allthe aces right now but he is quite unaware ofa finaltrump that r stiil hold. rf he does not stop or evenlaunches the M-alternative, he will be only digging hisown grave, as I have been considerate long enough.so, gentelmen go on and continue with your duties butwe shail at no cost ailow cellto split" They alrdispersed

lmmediately after the meeting, DNA gave anationwide address :

"Citizens of Cell, by now you a[ must.be aware ofth_e happenings in our iountry. Firsity tei;s ,;;;r;dplI gyr lgfage.lo that.great rirartyr _ generalige ;honao so werr run the defence depdrtment of cdtt ih tnepast- His brutal assasination by these madmen hasrgldelqd a serious btow to ail of ris and the siOOJsi oJnof it all is that we have been let down br-o* ,;r'ffi;people. These defectors who have nbw loine'O the9l1og^r1p gfgyq are traitors. tt is hishty o.bioiror. oimem to.grve this in return for the country that has doneso much for them. They were born her6, grew up herean_d,io-day they are bbnt upon destroyiig inei-, o*,motherland.

My only humble appeal to you all is to remain

'1l?gl"pq,as you.have iri the pa6t. Do not give in-io

erements that would try to break us up, for theiet resultwould mean total destruction to all oi us. continu. *iin

(48)(4e)

your work and face all the onslaughts bravely, thedefence and security people are always with you. Weshall not, I repeat not, concede to to thls unreasonabledemand of a separate nation byAND and his Oncogenegroup

Lastly lwould say only one thing, have faith in rne.

Thank you."

ln the Sink, AND and his group also heard thespeech made by DNA. As the words penetrated AND,shead they created a turmoil. He had so wellplanned thefirst two stages of his operation and had also met withsuccess, that ho had never anticipated that the Cellpeople would not concede to his demand. He frett6dand fumed in anger..."

"What now master?. they have not...,,

"Shut up! the fools, they have no idea of my power.you all have nothing to do now but to sit and watch theshow, for quite a show it is going to be',

Hs loft thom and went inside his laboratory. Hewont to hls working table on which was arranged acontrol panel consisting of two coloured buttons. lt wasin fact a remote control for the device implanted in theprint-out unit of the mdn computer in the Gene building.He moved his hands over the contror paner as if unabreto decide which button .to press first,. and finally hisfingers pressed one of the infernal buttons.".

The catastrophic M-alternative had beenlaunched.

THE M-ALTERNATIVE

The sudden cessation of all the attacks on thepowerstations oave a momentary rerief to irr-tni J"oor"of ceil. Thev ev-en.came to berierie inrii[Jirlr#rJyrlobeen evaded. gut-it *rJonry 6iiia *no rearized that thiswas only a lull before the stirrr.

' '

And then it began, at first there were only few, but*:f::1!93 g1aoryily besan io incr."s.. Every robotIr.ol9,n being manufactured in the Ribosor"i,*JJ-"totally non-functionar one ano tay in".tirJ"ilo i"ro.Some of them did manag." to .rfri're Ori ontyio;r;;;while' rt was indeed a pitheticJghiio watch, as sutside

[id?i:{ff J:ls,fisi,t};i,iJ:xT;-ln6i.,},"#:onty to seccumb rater. The ,axrin'}oispoiiiuniiri*ylab.le !g cope.up with ,rch farge-nu;Odi.S'ltnon-functionar robots. The entire area around thefactories had suddenly been tiansformed into agraveyard with unattend-ed corpses,

The overall effect on Cell was even moredevastating, as all lhe "onr"oion- prffi;yr'iH":,

depended on the robot .n=v*r, dd ;il; t;;standstilr, onry the ord ones siiil managing-thei; *-or[maintained some.activity. This too, aff ti"-Crii;"o;;knew, was not going to iast tor ev-er. The moit ,:";iJr;blow came wheTr tn6 nlrmo.;;, ilrat were such prizedproducts of Ce,.began to ;bin-tn, d;ad iI l["graveyards. No otherlo.untry'wouro ;.;ili rrLrJJIhormones and they woutd s6on iiop tnei, ;rppty ;;EMs and Vitamins to Cell.

Glycogen, lnspector, Steroid and the late generatlgG had highly suffered in the initial assaufts Ly theoncogene group. This time, it was the turn of the RNAs.

(50)

Several mRNAs could be seen running frantically fromfactory to factory. The tRNAs kept bringing AAs to thefacJories at an abnormal pace and they knew that verysoon their stock of the EAAs would exhaust and whatthen? The rRNAs laboured like horses in the ninosomesbut alltheir efforts were useless, as every robot proteinmanufactured by them was either non-functional orincomplete. What puzzeled them most was the suddenappearenc6 of a nonsense codon signalling the abruptend of a sequence.

Only one question hammered in evervbodieshead - what had suddenly gone wrong? Why th'is greatrntegrative system that they had formeO ahO hal somuch faith in, was falling apart? For the first time in thehistory of Cell the people felt their faith.in DNA to waverhls reputation for being the all time maste, *r, ,t ,ti-f.uj

1

DNA took onthe task to unfathom the mystery behindtlrrs'sudden catacyclsm that C"ll *ar tading. ?G; i;th6 raBeareh and analysis department wit6 the everfelthfullnspector Stqroid as his lone assistant, he begana rn€Bi seale post mortem session on the dead prote-insand mtnd you rl was no easy task.

Thc structure of qvery protein went through fourlevels of organization. The primary structure coilsistedglty o.fa straightforward chain of amino acids, this chainfolded upon itself to form a secondary siiJctui;.-Alurller fgldi!9 took ptace to give' rise to

-the3-dimensional, or tertiary structure lnd finally sereraltertiary structural units combined to form tne tirnctionJior active quatenary structure of the protein. rne-entireactive conformation of a protein depended on the o,Asequence in the primary structure.

(51)

So DNA had to go backwards in the abovescheme for every protein, to finally get the pri*irystructrue of each and this was a very time con'sumingtask.

, 9n..9 the primary structure of every protein hadbeen obtained a everrmore raborious pro6edere beganthereafter. This involved the amino aciO sequencil!.Every primary structurar unit consisted of a c+erminirand a N-terminal, sequencing courd be done from eitherterminal.

DNA had long suspected the cause, but after hisanalysis, his suspicion turned to belief. The amino acidsequence in all the proteins was either totally incorrector was wrong only at certain portions. Allthis pointed toonly one thing - codon sequences that he obtained fromthe computer were incorrect. Hence a mass mlsreadingof the code had occured and the resuli of which wasthe dead robots. As soon as DNA had discovered thishe ran to the computer room and checked theprogramme. The programme was perfectly alright, nomistakes at all, no evidence of tampering either. Hethenchecked the printouts, they were also correct, thenwhere lay the error? For the first time in his life DNA wastotally baffled.

Now what was the principle behind theM-alternative? During the days AND had been studyingthe code he did a large amount of experimental work..ln these studies he had had discovered a set of agentsthat could alter the codon sequences in different ways.These were classified as follows :

(52)

(53)

1. Cause a 'transversion' or change in letter e.g.Ethyl Ethane Sulphonate (EES)

2. Cause a 'insertion' or 'deletion' of letter e.g.Acridine which is a flavin dye.

3. Cause a 'distortion' e.g. Ultraviolet (UV)

radiation. Of these he chose the first two type to causethe havoc. Their effects could be visualized to occur asfollows:

Normal codon sequence -

AUG-AUC-GAA-UGA-CGA....chanse ot'"n"i;o-AUc-AGG-uGA-cGA

...

"rror= , to" h"n"" incorrect AAs

Acridine,'insertion - Normal

AUG-AUC-GAA-UGA-CGA ...,

lnsert A betwen nucleotide'3 and 4

AUG-AAU-CGA-AUG-ACG...

incorrect sequence hence

incorrect AAs

AcrrrJrrre deletion - Normal

AUG.AUC-GAA-UGA-CGA

Delete A from nucleotide 4AUG-UCG-MU.GAC-GA....

incorrect sequence hence

incorrect AAs

The net result would be a wrong sequence eitherin portions or compeletely, nence aini"r""Oinj,r'il"factory to produc.. q na.tiatty tuctional or completelynon-functional protein. The'scramble in G ;;d;,sequence also occasionally led to the formation?"nonsense codon_and,hence the proces, *orfO rnJr[producing an incomplete protein-

Thei two chemicals EES and Acridine.had beencompounded into one singre substance in the oJri.*placed,in the p_rint out unit 5no ineii effects differentiailvcontrotted by the two butrons on AND;;"r"i;';;tripanel. AND had very cleverly manipulat.O in.concentrations of the chemicals in such "

,;rry tnrt tn"i,9f9cts woutd bgOln a bit tate i.e.1ne cnang, i;in.

"od;;sequence would'nt be immediate but" *orfJ ;;;9rl,.ng the transit from the C"ne nrifOing to tne ticioriJsby the mRNAs. rt was this trick tniipi"*nted DNA fronr '

detecting the device in the print oLI unit.Since the robot proteins formed were all ,mutants,

caused by a 'mutation, in the sequence AND called itthe 'mutant arternative'or simpry ti,'u-atternatil;i- "

(54)

PREPARING FOR ACTION' --- A bio black car approached the main gate of th.e

Gene buildinq and came to a sudden halt. The guardsit tne oate m"oved towards it and on seeing the personiittino Tn it. immediatelv waved him through .(they hadbeeriore-instructed about the visitors arrival). lhe carhad a'lone passenqer who was driving it- He pa.rt(eglhqCaiin the pbrkinq ldt and came out. Many p-egplg of Cellwho had clusterEd around the periphery of the bulldlngin small qroups were staring at him- Even the entlre stafibi t,J oiito'rrig inctuoing th"e gul?!'ds wondered who hewaiT fnere Were two ffiost s-triking features about themin wno fiaO Just arrived, one.wa6 his enormous builtun? tne other ivas his face, which was totally devoid ofanv exoression. He moved in powerful strldes towarostnd iriirince of the building and then ascended,o*a-rOs-- towards the mebting room' Nobody

"S.lircIeo or- questioned him, -as they were . all

oie--intimated to'allow him through' Every eye thatwatcneO him go was awe struck bt the sheer fear thatni= oeisondinTexuded. The man crinfronted DNA in theme5t,nglooni, tney were the only two present there'

"Please sit down"Tho man surveved the chairs and selectqd.tle

gurrrrirls ehiiir, ni tndt was the biggest and sat in it intrn ete(it slttncn

"l)o yott itirvrt ttrty icltltl of what had been goingrrror rrrl'1"

"A bit""So tirst I will give you the complete story""Go on"DNA related the entire happenings that had

occured so far in detail."l do not wish to cr:itisize our ISD or the defence

bovs. lnJact inspector Steroid has done a tremendousio-d wiin nii deijartment and has always been a closehide of mine in this grim situation. Even thegeneral.hasoaid the price of this maniacal onslaught- But this timeI-teet tnli we-aie up aoainst an enemy-whose strengthand resources are'belong the grasp-of the ISD or.thedefence. The heavy foll In terris of man power that

(55)

lll=tggp,qrtments_have suffered make this evident. Socommander Tor yo.u1 time to ict'h'as come, we havenever used vour rinit in-in! flisT6li'io.cray the situation33$tr t

^Y8E"fiyl'ml3lil[ii:]h o E'i: s'"ff u; i

"lt will be ct_one', saiit commander R.V. Tor thel"tf "

otl= c?o ilB f x

= .iP,.'fJT,"?,i. ;y#ft,*."* t Smine. "

!v vr rrrr v I

*,=n,#[?'9all3ts,f,t}{',fi3,to act' but before vou so I

P,llA- p^* I if I'glg _,Gide h is breist pocket an dextracted a'small obiect and g;ve;'it idiffi'.8;"ffhE,J;"What is that?'1

,J,^i:^3 ?y,lqtjr*tgy c_al.Wejn any of your[:g]L?lgT:.,.gggtgtidnrion-arul jlrn'eiiirr.i,rl#..i11,."""1';b { "iir Ifi #liliqd B ii #: lj ;LiB E:i.Jx!: nrrrs..r rlr.,ur any range SprgaOS all overdestroy. on ty h trt othd-n oboiri' ;i#1'"Whv?"whv?

Itur;i-'{&"Bl'"%'iilS,r,?1,'fJ%?,.??ts#sigsft ,',,.,^,,},i

ngffie#flgil.*ni ;:ffi d'"lr3, "rn;

ff[g:;33,E?nha,n;rsi,x?sx{*il:f'[,",fflr5iThe Commander got up, pocketed the bullet andleft. - -- s-' -r-' revvr\

. Nobody in Cell except for DNA knew about theexistence of thjs spebiaiil'eJ" uriii -';rru;"' iii;' Retrovectors' n o r nao e[e r tF e Siiu atiori'ards?' id util'i'zEthem. rhe entire u.rii walq ihd d;;iion oT Drux[iHdEitand he kept the unit as a tin-ai reZigi;id 6 b'e usilil'o"njvin a hopelEss situation iitie tne prE#ifi;.v sgvv vr rrv

. Ihe Retroveuor.s belongiiO-to J JpJ.i"f ctass ofn u c I e i c a c i d s . o ri g i n a riy t[ e-re-iSre"tevriin-ririm #i iliit was . by sheer cHanc6 ih;i-D NA"h;d' sii, ri,[i#" Gli;them .in-a secruoe.g Lgrn.ei oi'ceil- Thii"'"*li."ffiliremarkabte properties. in them t6ii' oiH'iot,,'#J iiilthese were, firstlv tneii immeft;'bilit wiiiiah iiililnt,'il

(56)

very strong and poweful and secondly, which Was arather odd trait, they totally lacked any emotion. lt wasthis second propefi that imparted them a fearJul look.DNA studied the class and decided to build robotreplicas that were quite identical to the originalRetrovectors. The objective behind DNAs effort was toexploit the properties of the Retrovectors for a specificpurpose that would suit them.

The secluded area from where they came wascordoned off and converted to a manufacture cumtraining centre. An altogether separate specialsynthesizing unit was set up here, which functioned justlike the other Cell factories, except that the Enzymesinvolved were different. These enzymes were called theFleverse transcriptase and Restriction endonucleaseswhich were specifically adapted to bring about themanufacture of the Retrovectors.

R.V. Torwas an originalRetroveetorfound by DNAand he was made the commander of the unit. Underhim the entire Retrovector unit was placed.

After DNA had told commander Tor what hewanted, a process of rigourous training began. Theschedulo was so tough that occasionally a Retrovectorwould lose hls life in the training, but it was the peculiaremotional absence that made the others continue.These Retrovectors were perfected in the art of killing.The target may be one, two or many a singleRetrovector was skilled enough to kill as many as theycome before calling it a day.

As the attacks of the Oncogene group weretaking place, DNA had isolated lar{e amdunt5 ot tnelethal liquid used in their spray guns. This stuff he hadsent to the Retrovector' training centre to be tested onthe Retrovectors themselves. The re-sults were

(57)

excellentasthe liquid wasfoundto have littleeffect on thenucleic acid characterestics in them as they were nucleicacids and this inrparted a naturalprotectiv'e sheild to theRetrovectors. At one time DNA had even contemplatedon the idea to use the Carbohydrates against theOncogenes, but their being totally unskilled in any formof warfare went against them. To train them at such ashort notice was also not possible and moreover, DNAthought, that when he had this specialized unit o{ theRetrovectors why opt for the Carbohydrates? Despite oftheirnot being putto any use atallsofarin Cell, thefitnessof the unit was never allowed to slacken for all theseyears. DNA had taken a personal interest in the unit andhad maintained a constant follow-up with thecommander aboutthe activities in the centre.

Now the day had dawned when the entire futureof Cell depended on the Retrovectors.

The disaster caused in Cell by the M-alternativewas received with great joy in the Sink. Small groupscould be seen huddled around televisions watching thereports that were coming in. Each bad news wascheered and loud slogans like 'Long live AND' 'Longlive the Oncogene party' and 'Come Neoplasia' couldbe heard everywhere.

AND was dancing around in his lab, laughinghysterically and pressing the two buttons at frequentintervals. On watching the effects caused he used toshudder in glee.

Most of his followers sat watching the drama andtheir master in admiration.

"You saw all that boys? I hold their bloody neckand its upto me as to how hard I squeeze. The time is'nt:far off when they would concede and then we all wouldbe free and have a world of our own. My life timesdream Neoplasia!"' (58)

AFMAGEDDON

Wlrrln ANt)'s group in the Sink was celebrating

arrrl llrn rlll/cllli of Cell were facing the brunt of the

M allnrnirlrvc ir truckful of Retrovectors headed by

r r ln ln r;rr rr krr tl.V. Tor was speeding steadily towards the

iirrrh llrrr ;rl;rn divised by the commander was a very.;nlrl)k! onc-a direct,attack on the Sink, the Retrovectors

wuukl krll any thing that came their way and he himself

woulcl go for the main prey, that was AND'

About a rnile or so from the Sink, the truck came

Io ;r lr;rll. Crtttttnander Tor got out and the Retrovectors

filrrtl on orre side awaiting further instructions.

"Frorn here onwards, we make it on foot" said tlre

cornrnander "As we reach near the Sink we split into

two etroups forming two semi-circles aroud the Sink

rrrrrl tlren we descend from the periphery. Thereafter,

wlrnl nirr:lr oR., rlf yotr has to do has already been

lr rrrlt t tr;tet I I tttw ltlttvtt! "

llre llnlrttvnt;ltltti ttttc;tlrt their brisk march

lnwrtrrl:i lltntt (ltxrl Ortr:c tlley had encircled the Sink

llrey lrel;rrt tlrntt rlrt:;cortt. t=verything about them was

:io nlnllrurlrt:irl, t;o well ttmed that it seemed as though

llroy trlrl urtdergone such operations severaltirnes.

The attack on the Oncogenes came quite

:;uclclenly and they were taken by surprise. The

Ilctrovectors killed whatever came their way with

r.;rlkrus indifference. Sheer massacre was all that they

(5e)

indulged in as they moved downwards. By the time theyhad reached the base, panic had arready struck and theoncogenes courd been seen running herter and skerterbelow the disposar unit. They were frightened becausenone of their weaponery seemed to have any effect onthe Retrovectors and moreoverthe total absence of anyexpression on the face of their attackers scared them aitthe more.

Once inside the disposal unit, the commander ranall aroud desperately searching for AND. Whateverresistance the oncogenes offered was infinitismarcompared to the brute force of the Retrovectors. Theyears of training grinded into the Retrovectors had atlast proved useful and too overwhelming for theoncogenes as they seccumbed to the attack. whire thecommander allowed his boys to do their job, he himselfhad reached ANDs laboratory and just saw him slipthrough one of the side doors into the tunners below.He ran after him.

The tunnels were dug in a zig-zag fashion andalthough the commander raR vary fast he courd not seeAND- He onry heard his footfafis at a distance indicatingthat his target was on the run.

The chase continued for some time till thecommander reached a dead end. there was nothingove.r there. except a dimly lit overhead tamp anIdarkness all aroud.

'Where the hell had AND disappeared?,wondered the commander ,There

is got be an'openingsomewhere around here, he just connot vanish.,

(60)

As time was ticking by he slowly began tappingthc walls of the tunnels with the butt of his gun, he knewltrat if there was a door concealed somewhere in thewalls he would make it out by the sound difference.

At long last after some labour he made out theoutlines of a possible opening. Once he had done thishe quickly fixed small detonators on the wall and movedaway to avoid the blast.

A loud explosion followed that shook the entiretunnel as bits of rock fell all over and a cloud of smokeprevailed. Waving aside the smoke and particles in theatmosphore the commander entered the opening. Whattre found inside was a large room with all sortsgadgetery arranged all over and rightthere in the middleof thc room he saw the sight of his life, that would haveprobably shocked others but not him. He could notbellcve his eyes for a moment, but soon he realized thatll war a herd reallty that eonfronted him.

ln the mlddle ol the room were four large circularplatforma on top of which stood four exactly similarreplleae ol AND which wore completely naked. On topof thelr heads was a circurlar lamp slightly lesser indlamerter than the platforms below. A powerful beam oflight was enmanating from the lamps in which thebodies seemed to be bathed. The four figures lookedidentical and made a very prominent sight as the rest ofthe room was in total darknes. Allfour spoke in unisionand the entire room reasonated with AND's voice ....

(61)

"Ah! so you have made it in, but mind you do notmake any attempts to come near me or should I sayus?" and Etoud taughter followed...

"There is a comprete high energy barrieraroundus ,

tld yilt disintegrate anybody"comin!'near. i t<now attabout that goddamned bullet that DNA may have givenyou to destroy me. r had worked on that srosian& to,quite sometime, but to isolate large 116rrl, oi it'i,impossible. so inail probabirity you hlve onry one builet,-spares are out ofquestion. But are,nt you in a fix? Weare fo. ur targets over here and you have onry one bu[et,identify the correct 1e gnd yoJ win. t am quitJ rri, tnrtyou are aware that in the present situatioh you cannot3fl9rd lo gamble either !,' another 6r'd lrughi;,followed.

Commander Tor had thought about this themoment he had seen the four replicas of AND.

"Wellwhat happens if I do gamble and lose?,,

"The most obvious question, and a good one, yousee these rays falling on bur bodies? tt riitt tat<e dntrian hour or so for them to.get fully activateO. OnL" tn"Vdo so, all the molecules.in my Sody would ipfit +aiand then nothing woutd remain. tiut mind ior, i[i,dispersal would only be temporary, Oecause inemolecules wourd never forget ineir attinity toi-eacnothet their memory is infallidle and permenint. So say?1."I a cou.ple of years all of them woiltO r.e_org"nii; ii6AND would be reborn only to continue nis tite tonoambition of dividing celr and establishing l,reopLs,a. isaw theway you baggars kiiled, when t dmergijgJn imay find a way to dearwith you as weil and thtn r-snirireign supreme."

(62) (63)

As the words permeated the commanders mind,

h+r quietly settled down in one corner, he had about an

Irour to somehow identify the true AND in the fourrcplicas and destroy him.

This problem had to end once and for all, DNA hadgiven him the rneans and had placed his entirefaith ontohim, he must succeed, failure was out of question. If he

did fail, AND would emerge again in a probably morediabolicalway, but how? The commander held his headin his hands and thought hard.

Although commander Tor, like allthe R€trovectorswns totally devoid of emotion, but during his life time hetrad done a lot of reading on emotions, psychology andbehaviour of the mind. Natural deprivation of these traitsinterested him all the more in the subject and it hadcome to become one of his favourite topics of study. His

Eludles in this field ultimately gave him the answer hewac looking for, he knew it had to work. He lookedaround thc room and thare in front of the four figureshr lound what he sought - a television. For the first time

alnce the oporatlon had begun he put in a contact toDNA.,.

"R to D"

"D to R, I hear you well go on"

"Chief lneed your help, lguess ourtelevision boysmust be having video films of all the happenings eversince trouble had.started?"

"Yes, but why?,'"l;ll answer your question later, but I want you to

instruct our television centre to begin a replay oithr*films right from the beginrng, especiaily those firms thatshow a maximum amount of disaster and chief do thisright away I am running out of time, l,ll wait for about fiveminutes"

be done in less than five miiutei.,;

. . They broke contact and the commander satlooking at his watch. After exa&it fi* ;iil;;, ;;moved towards the terevision set and switchro it on. n"lgo[ a position behind the set and sat gazing ilt*iry ;the faces of the four figures.

The television boys of Coll had done a wonderfuljob. As the commentator began his descriptions, thescreen began to display the disasters caused by ANDand his oncogenes in detair, right from the first attackon power station one. The commander's logic was verystraightforward - on seeing his own creation AND,s eyeshad to betray him. When a creator looks at his owncreation may it be a sculptor, architect, artist, playwriteor any creator of any sort, that peculiar glintthat his eyesshow is unmistakabre. rt is for adrniration of his ownwork, it is a glint of satisfaction, it is a glint of pride, it isa glint that cannot be grouped into a single expression.The glint embodies a sum total of his entire toil andsweat, his defeats, his frustrations, with his ultimatevictory in the end as the creation beholds him.

(M) (6s)

The trick employed by the commander workedwith fantastic results, which even he had never

expected. Not only the eyes of AND, but his entire bodymade him stand out in the lot, as the non-responderswere only dummies. As the descriptions and the filmwere coming to an end he quivered in glee. The

commander had quite early spotted AND to be the

second from left in the quartret, but he made himself

doubly sure before he took careful aim and fired thefateful bullet. The effect of the ingredients in the bulleton AND was remarkable, just as the protease had eatenthrough the Proteins. Bit by bit his body started falling

apart like bits that come apart from lepers except thatin AND's case the agony was unbearable, he wasmoaning and writhing in pain. As the foam exuded aperpetual stench spread over the entire room.

The bullet contained a substance called'Streptodornase' isolated from certain bacteria calledStreptococci. Streptodornase has the property ofbreaking down Nucleic acids to completion. The resultsof the compound were evident as AND lay there on theplatform as an unidentifyable mass. Quite ironically, his

own creation betrayed him and proved to be hisundoing. Had AND been a normal person he wouldhave probably succeeded in maintaining a steadyexpression, but he was not, he was a fanatical geniuswith a warped mind which only served in catalyzing hisend.

The Retrovectors led by commander R.V.llcr haddone a complete job. lt was a clean swipe, all theOncogenes along with their leader had been destroyed.It was a cleansing operation in Cell that was to be longremembered. commander Tor had coilected ail thlliterature stored in AND's laboratory and had it sent tothe Gene building- From this riterature DNA rocated theposition of that disasterous device that had triggeredthe M-alternativerlt had caused severe damage to theProteins and he had it removed at once. Although ANDand his Oncogenes had been destroyed, the scars leftby their activities were still very deep and painful.Mopping up operations would take a very long time andrestoration to normalacy,was stillfar away and DNA wasquiet aware of these facts.

The only thing, which was of great respite to DNAwas, that the division of Cell had been averted andabove all Cell was still viable. For as long as a systemis viable, however severe may be the damage and oncethe causal agents eliminated,'recovery is the rule.

(66)

GLOSSARY

1. Amino Acid . there are 22 Amino Acids found inlrroteins of which some 10 are called the EssentialArnino Acids as they have to be obtained from anoxternal source. These Essential Amino Acids arecollectively called 'MATVILPHLY' where each letterstands for an amino acid e.g. M for Methionine any Lyfor Lysine.

2. A,U,G,C & T : these letters stand for the fivenucleotides or bases Adenine, Guanine, Uracil.Cytosine and Thymine that form the building blocks ofthe Nucleic acids, along with phosphate molecules.

3. Carbohydrates : are the simplest type ofmolecules found in the Cell e.g. Glucose amonosaccharide, Maltose a disaccharide andGlycogen a polysaccharide. The Carbohydrates arereadily soluble in water and largely meet up to theenergy requirements of the Cell.

4. Codon, code : A codon is a unit composed ofthree nucleotides i.e. a triplet that codes for a singlearnino acid. There are a total of 64 codons that.form thelturretie cods, of which two codons initiate a chain for;troterirt syntlresis while three terminate a chain and arecallerJ 'nonsclnse codons'. The genetic code has foundto be univcrsal for all living organisms.

5. Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) : a Nucleic acidcomposed of the nucleotides A, I G, & C. lt is a doublestandard molecule, the strands entwine on each otherforming a double helix, that resembles a spiralstaircase. The entire biological fate of an individual isgoverned by the DNA, the units of information stored init are referred to as 'genes'

6. Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) : these aremembranous structures on which the Ribosomes areattached, the ER and the Ribosomes are sites forProtein sYnthesis'

(67)

7.,Energy Qount : The breakdown of one glucose

motecute, through glycotysis ano suoseil";iHiry ;tothe,Krebs cycre-pl6orcriJ .o- roi".rres of AdenosineTriph_osphate (AIp) through tne- n4itochondria. Theenergy is stored in these m6bcures in the torm oi r,lgn9nerg..y phosphate bonds. This occur. ,nJui'r-"roBi.conditions. under anaerobic conoitions, the Kiebi.u.l,does not function and ontye ,or".rr6i;;ip?,produced.

Enzymes: These are protein molecules thatcatalyze the various metabolic rrrction. o""uriiglnil;,Cell.

o, * f; n?,[!33t il J : 3J3t1? iS'iSHJf i,, L3ffi,l?Glycogen in the Cett and wneneveigtucose L;*il;;,Glycogen is broken down totineratb it.

_, _ 10.. Glycolysis : The process of breakdown ofglucose to_pyruvic acid, mediated Oy tne ;;r;;;;.termed as Glycolysis.l l.Hormones : These compounds are produced

by the endocrine gr,ductles= _#ri-0. ot oui OoOy.3;;;lI:T ,re protein in nature.ihey are required in verymrnute quantities and usuaily act a't a site duite # il;ifrom the Ce[ producing ite$. fn.riir.. ' 12. tmmunoglobins": protein molecules alsoknown as the Rntib6dies .l.reyirp;n rrlrru.,iViniserve as a defence mechanisril against i"fr1ii";:lmmunoglobin G

SL lgg it i1r-9 mijor Ertiorov J,iiiidthe five that are known to exist. '

rL _ 13. Krebs cycle: This is a Central grand station inthe metaboric network of the ceil, wheTrl.rrriiliv'rrijfre pathways.converge upon. Since the conversion ofPyruvate to citrate oegins'tne cycte it is ario .irr.o ir,,Citric acid cycle ' -'- '

(68)

14. Lactate Dehydrogenese (LDH): This enzymebrings aboutthe conversion of Pyruvateto Lactate andvice-versa. lt is known to exist in five different formswhich are called the LDH isozymes. The enzyme actsunder anaerobic conditions thus only 2 molecules ofATP are produced from the Glycolytic pathway.

15. Lecithin : is a phospholipid molecule belongingto the Lipids.

16. Lipids : This class of molecules arecharacterized by their non-solubility in water. They areonly soluble in organic solvents, like ethyl alcohol orether. Fatty acids like palmitate, phosphilipids likeLecithin and the steroids are members of this class.Lipids in conjunction with proteins in the form r,fLipoproteins form an important component of the Ce I

membrane and other membranous structures within th,Cell.

17. Mitochondria : they are also called the 'Powerhouses' of the Cell. Within the mitochondria is presentan Electron transport chain, through which electronsderiv6d from the chemical conversions involved inglycolysis and the Krebs cycle are passed and ATPmolocules are produced at three points.

18. Metastasis : The uncontrolled division ofcancer cells leading to its proliferation is calledmetastasis.

19. Mutations : Alterations in the genetic code orDNA that lead to the production of incorrect proteins ortraits are called mutations. These may be natural orinduced by chemical mutagens like ethyl ethanesulphonate (EES), Acridine or Ultraviolet radiations.

20. Neoplasia : the term means'new growth'andis commonly used to refer to a cancerous lesion orgrowth. t

(6e)

21. Nucleic acids : DNA and RNA are the Nucleicacids.

22. Nucreus : is a structure present in ail the ceilsexcept the red blood Cells. DNA is present inside thenucleus.

23. Oncooenes : This is a term usually used torefer to Nucreic"acid nrateriailil; in viruses that areknow to cause cancer in animits. rhese ui.iei rr":?lpq Oncogenic viruses. AND and tne Sinr<, tf" L"rOor.rne uncogenes and their location in Celi are purefiction.

24. Palmitate: This is a fatty acid belong to the Lipidclass.

25. Protease : is a common term used to refer to renzymes known to split protein moleicules frypsin ,nOPapain are proteases tlrat can sprit immunogrboins intothree portions.

26. Protease lnnibitors : are a group ofgompoylds protein or non-protein in nature tiat ihniOitrne.. acttvtty of proteases e.g. the Soyabean Trypsininnibitor.

27. Proteins : These are large moleculescomposed of Amino acids. Their finar-s-dim"nlionirconformation is governed by the amino s"qrenc"present in the primary stru-cture. Thev aie-nionl,versatrre in nature a.nd.perform a variety-of functidns.Enzymes, immunoglobihs and some otine normoneslike lnsulin are examples.

28. Protein Synthesis : See RNAs.

" 29.Pyruvate Dehydrogenese (pDH) :Thisisinfactan enzyme complex that brings about the conversionof Pyruvate to Acetyl co-enzyme A, Which is thenconverted to Citrate by another enzyme.

(70) (71)

30^ Repressors: These are small protein

rrrolecules involved in the control mechanisms of theri,,yrrllress of proteins. The presence of a repressor on

Itrr: DNA usually negates protein synthesis.

31. Retrovectors : This is a word coined from the

rotroviralvector system which consists of viral DNA into

wlrich a genomic DNA has been insefted, these

:;ystems are nowadays being used in gene therapy

rr11;rilrst cancer.

32. Ribosomes : are sites of protein synthesis

rrllirr:lrnrl to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)

33. RNA Ribonucleic acids: These are Nucleic

nciels composed of A,U,G.& C nucleotides and are of

lluce types :

(1) rnRNA or messenger RNA is formed on the

llNA lly H llro(le:ls torrrled as transcription.

(!,) lltNA rtr ltttnstttr llNA brings the Amino acids

ln lltrr nlle ttf ;trttlttttt :;yt'ttho:;ls, the Ribosomes on the

In(3) rRNA or ribosomal RNA resides in the

liitrosomos its functions are unclear but is postulated to

lrold the IRNA carrying the AA correctly on the codons

on the mRNA attached to the Ribosomes.

The formation of proteins on the ribosomesrlirnded by the codon sequences on mRNA is termedari lranslation. The entire scheme is as follows :

DNA

Transcription Transtation

mRNA Proteins+

AA- IRNA

on Ribosomes.

34. Streptodornase: this is mixture of lyticenzymes isolated from the bacteria called Streptococcithat completely break down the nucleic acids.

35. Steroids: They are a class of compoundsgr6uped in the lipids

- and have a characterestic

Perhydrocycloplentane phenanthrene ring, s66lssteroltestosterone are some exqmples.

36. \rftamins: They are a group of compoundstermeC as additional grourth factors obtained tro, anexternal source. The B-complex series form theco-enzymes that are integral components of the

(721