Redundancy in Biological and Architectural Systems

Jeremy Golden Living Architecture Research Project Report Bio 219/ Cell Biology Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts, USA December 4, 2012 Click here for HeLa cell report

Rule to Build By

In order to withstand loss of function, biological and architectural systems must be redundant.

What

Eukaryotic autotrophic cells display many layers of redundancy through the design and staggering number of chloroplasts used to maintain photosynthesis, and the design of solar power plants near Seville, Spain (also called “solar towers”) displays redundancy through its energy-collecting mechanism.

How

An Overview of Chloroplasts and How They Conduct Photosynthesis

Chloroplasts are the energy-collecting organelles that autotrophic organisms, such as plants and algae, use to create chemical energy (Alberts et al., 2010). This process is photosynthesis, and results in the production of oxygen, ATP and sugars. Photosynthesis is required for autotrophs to survive, as well as produce oxygen for heterotrophic organisms that need to conduct cellular respiration (Alberts et al., 2010).

Chloroplasts are small structures containing three different layers of membranes (Fig 1): The outer, the inner and the thylakoid (Alberts et al., 2010). Thylakoid membranes contain protein-pigment conglomerates called antenna complexes, which transfer excited electrons down a transport chain, creating a proton gradient that drives the production of ATP, which the organism uses for energy and NADPH, which the organism uses to produce sugars. Each antenna complex contains chlorophyll molecules, which absorb energy from photons and transfer that energy through excited electrons to the reaction centers—or specialized pigment molecules—of the antenna complexes.

http://icuc.wheatoncollege.edu/bio219/2012/golden_jeremy/[7/7/2015 9:58:53 AM] Figure 1: A drawing of a chloroplast with an electron-microscope image superimposed on top. Note the three membrane layers on the drawing and the thylakoid stacks on the microscope image (Schaefer and Thomas, 1997). For original image, please go to http://www.wellesley.edu/Biology/Courses/Plant/chloro.html

Figure 2: A simplified model of the antennae complex used in chloroplasts to produce ATP and NADPH. Note how an electron transport chain drives the formation of a proton gradient inside the thylakoid space and how that gradient enables the production of ATP via ATP synthetase (Kaiser, 2001).

Redundancy displayed in Chloroplasts

All photoautotrophic organisms contain chloroplasts in order to harness energy from light. Whether, algae or plant, nearly all photoautotrophic eukaryotes contain between 10 and 100 chloroplasts per cell (Fig 3). Some algae contain only one chloroplast (Alberts, Bray and Lewis, 1994), but this is a small percentage of all eukaryotic photoautotrophs. In fact, in the factory-like palisade cells of deciduous leaves, cells can contain up to 300 chloroplasts (Atwell, Kriedemann & Turnbull, 1999). Clearly, the abundance of chloroplasts creates a redundant system where many, many of these organelles are producing energy for the cell at any given time.

http://icuc.wheatoncollege.edu/bio219/2012/golden_jeremy/[7/7/2015 9:58:53 AM] Figure 3: Cells from the moss organism Plagiomnium affine. Note the abundance of green chloroplasts within each cell (Csotonyi and Peters, 2011)

Redundancy Displayed in Antenna Complexes

Antenna complexes are the reaction sites that produce O2, ATP and NADPH. They consist of a complex series of proteins and pigments that drives the formation of a proton gradient vis-à-vis an electron transport chain. While there is no literature revealing a set number of antenna complexes sustained within each chloroplast, we can demonstrate antennal redundancy by thylakoid abundance. Each chloroplast contains between 10-100 grana, or stacks of thylakoids, and there are approximately 10-20 thylakoids within each granum (Mustardy et al., 2008). This gives a range of 100 to 2000 thylakoids—all studded with many antenna complexes—within each chloroplast. Clearly, the number of antenna complexes is redundant within the system.

Redundancy of Chlorophyll Pigments

Within each antenna complex are pigment molecules called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll molecules hold electrons and surround reaction center pigments, constantly having their electrons excited from the sun’s bombardment of photons, and transferring those energy from those electrons to the reaction center, which donates an electron to the electron transport chain (Karp, 2010). Within each antennae complex, there is anywhere from 100-250 chlorophyll pigments (Fig. 4) capable of transferring energy to a reaction center (Shubin, Karapetyan, & Karasnovsky, 1986, Guskov et al., 2009). In fact, for every molecule of oxygen produced, there are over 300 times the number of pigments required to supply the reaction (Karp, 2010). The molecular level of photosynthesis most clearly demonstrates the amount of redundancy present in photosynthesis.

http://icuc.wheatoncollege.edu/bio219/2012/golden_jeremy/[7/7/2015 9:58:53 AM] Figure 4: A diagram of chlorophyll pigment molecules supplying a reaction center with excited electrons. Notice how the number of chlorophyll pigments far outweighs the single reaction center to which they transfer energy (Karp, 2010).

Solar Towers

Southern Spain is geographically fortuitous in that its weather is fairly mild year round and it has a relatively high number of sun-hours per year (“AEMET”, 2012). Spanish companies have taken advantage of this by building large solar power plants. The basic architecture requires a tall tower with a generator, turbine and a water supply, and hundreds of mirrors facing the sun and reflecting that line onto the water supply (Whelan, 2008). For example, the PS10 Solar Power Plant near Seville, Spain is supplied by 624 movable mirrors (Fig. 5).

Solar Tower Redundancy

Solar towers are redundant in that each tower is supplied by at least 624 mirrors. Some of the newer versions are supplied by as many as 2,650 mirrors (“NREL”, 2011). While a single tower system is redundant, the entire Spanish solar tower market is redundant in that there are currently three live solar tower systems (Fig. 6), and three more announced as of 2012 (Wikipedia, 2012). While the analogy is not perfect, one more level of redundancy is apparent from Europe’s development of a “smart grid” that allows European Union countries to transport energy internationally (“Claverton Energy,” 2011).

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Figure 5: The PS10 Solar Power Plant near Seville, Spain. Note the dramatic number of mirrors supplying the single energy tower in the center of the picture (Endless Sphere, 2010).

Figure 6: The PS20 (left) and PS20 (right) solar towers together in Seville, Spain. These are only two of the six total Spanish solar towers that will be built in Spain (“Dailymail,” 2010).

Why

Redundancy in Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis is absolutely necessary for life to continue on Earth. It provides energy to the photoautotrophs who utilize it and oxygen to the heterotrophs that depend on it (Alberts et al., 2010). If we look at photosynthesis as a whole, three layers of redundancy occurring through the molecular all the way to cellular levels protect the system from failure.

http://icuc.wheatoncollege.edu/bio219/2012/golden_jeremy/[7/7/2015 9:58:53 AM] Chlorophyll adds redundancy to photosynthesis in that there are many more chlorophyll molecules per antenna complex than are required to catalytically form energy (Karp, 2010). There are 300 times more pigments than the bare minimum, meaning that hundreds of pigment molecules degrade and any given antenna complex could still transfer electrons down the electron transport chain. The vast excess of pigment increases the likelihood that the complexes are constantly supplied with energy, allowing photosynthesis to continue at a constant rate.

At the next organizational level, the abundance of antenna complexes assures that chloroplasts are constantly producing ATP, sugars and O2. While no information has been collected on the range of antenna complexes present in chloroplasts, we can deduce from the number of thylakoids (between 100 and 2000) that each chloroplast contains thousands of antennae, since each thylakoid contains many complexes embedded in its membrane (Karp, 2010). Therefore, even if hundreds of antennae failed, the chloroplast would not lose its ability to catalyze the production of energy.

At the cellular level, a majority of eukaryotic autotrophs display photosynthetic redundancy through the number of chloroplasts at their disposal. Cells may have anywhere from 10 (Wikipedia, 2012) to 300 (Atwell, Kriedemann & Turnbull, 1999) chloroplasts in a cell. Therefore, if, for example, intense ultraviolet radiation destroys a chloroplast, the cell can compensate for its loss with the remaining organelles. This ensures that the loss of a single, up to several chloroplasts does not entail cellular death. Photosynthetic organisms have three defined levels of redundancy that allows for constant photosynthesis. Because of all of these failsafes, cells can maintain required levels of energy production even while sustaining losses at the molecular and organelle levels.

Redundancy in Solar Towers

Like photoautotrophic cells, solar tower systems have built-in redundancies that allow them to produce energy despite potential damage or failures. For example, the minimum number of mirrors supplying a tower is 624 (“NREL”, 2011), meaning that, if one mirror were to break, the whole system would not have to shut down in order to undergo repairs. Like antennae complexes, the loss of one energy transfer unit can be sustained because of the sheer number of other units supplying power.

In addition to power plant-level redundancies, solar towers have an additional layer of redundancy in that there are several towers. If there were only one very powerful tower supplied by thousands and thousands of mirrors, the whole system would fail if the tower were to fail despite the number of mirrors. However, with more than one tower, any given tower can fail, and Spain can still receive electricity from solar power.

Finally, even if every solar tower in Spain were to fail, other solar towers in France and Germany will, theoretically, be able to transport energy to Spain vis-à-vis the new supergrid being developed for Europe (“Claverton Energy,” 2011). In this case, Europe is a cell and Spain is a chloroplast. While the analogy is not perfect (i.e. chloroplasts do not supply dead chloroplasts with energy), the principle of redundancy demonstrates that localized failures on many different levels will not cause a failure of the system.

Literature

Alberts, B. (2010). Essential cell biology (3rd ed.). New York: Garland Science.

Alberts, B., Johnson, A., Lewis, J., Raff, M., Roberts, K., & Walter, P. (1994). Molecular biology of the cell (3rd ed.). New York: Garland Science.

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Atwell, B. J., Kriedemann, P. E., & Turnbull, C. G. (1999). Plants in action: adaptation in

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Csotonyi, J., & Peters, K. (n.d.). The taming of the chloroplast | evolutionary routes. Evolutionary Routes | A science blog for non-scientists, by a rambling biologist and paleoartist. Retrieved December 3, 2012, from http://evolutionaryroutes.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/the-taming-of-the-chloroplast/

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Guskov, A., Kern, J., Gabdulkhakov, A., Broser, M., Zouni, A., & Saenger, W. (2009). Cyanobacterial photosystem II at 2.9-Ã… resolution and the role of quinones, lipids, channels and chloride. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 16, 334-342.

Kaiser, G. (n.d.). Illustration of electron transport and Chemiosmosis during photosynthesis. CCBC Student Web. Retrieved December 3, 2012, from http://student.ccbcmd.edu/~gkaiser/biotutorials/photosyn/fg5.html

Karp, G. (2010). Cell and molecular biology: concepts and experiments (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley. List of solar thermal power stations. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_thermal_power_stations#cite_note-Sol.C3.BAcar_Platform-87

Mustardy, L., Buttle, K., Steinbach, G., & Garab, G. (2008). The Three-Dimensional Network of the Thylakoid Membranes in Plants: Quasihelical Model of the Granum-Stroma Assembly. Plant Cell, 20, 2552-2557.

NREL: Concentrating Solar Power Projects - Gemasolar Thermosolar Plant . (n.d.). National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Home Page. Retrieved December 3, 2012, from http://www.nrel.gov/csp/solarpaces/project_detail.cfm/projectID=40

Pictured: Spain's spectacular solar power plants channelling the blazing Seville sun. (n.d.). Daily Mail. Retrieved December 3, 2012, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article- 2004793/Pictured-Spains-spectacular-solar-power-plants-channelling-blazing-Seville-sun.html

Schaefer, B., & Thomas, M. (1997, August 15). The chloroplast. Wellesley College – Wellesley College. Retrieved December 3, 2012, from http://www.wellesley.edu/Biology/Courses/Plant/chloro.html

Watson, D. (n.d.). Exploring photosynthesis in a leaf - Chloroplasts, Grana, Stroma, Thylakoids, and other parts of a leaf.. Science and technology education from Flying Turtle Exploring. Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://www.ftexploring.com/photosyn/chloroplast.html

Why Do We Need The Supergrid, What Is Its Scope And What Will It Achieve? . (n.d.). Claverton Group : Experts in Energy, Environmental, Climate & Transportation : News, Information & Forum. Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://www.claverton-energy.com/why-do-we-need-the-supergrid-what-is- its-scope-and-what-will-it-achieve.html

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