Thermodynamic description of a copolymerisation process: the link between Maxwell's Demon and the drive to compile genetic information

Abstract

The notion that information has physical, and in particular, thermodynamic content can be linked to the paradox of Maxwell's demon, the actor in a thought-experiment that J.C. Maxwell initially introduced in his paper “Theory of Heat” in 1871. As an update and an extension of Maxwell's approach we will consider the real-life demon to run a nano-machine associated with the template directed assembly of DNA sequences. The “demon's” feature is the faculty to compile biological information as he operates. The total amount of information he is able to compile is strictly related to the change in entropy during the DNA synthesis compared to the entropy of the initial state of the system when only a DNA-polymerase, a template single strand, and an equal amount of the four nucleoside tri-phosphates are present.

Key words:

• Maxwell's demon
• genetic information
• thermodynamics
• entropy