Balance Between Order and Disorder: Quantum-Epigenetic Pathways for the Emergence and Continuous Evolution of Life

[Acta Biotheoretica] The scientific restlessness surrounding the question of what life is (expressed in the provocations of Feynman and Schrödinger) guides this review article by integrating physics, chemistry, and biology into a multidimensional and emergent approach to the origin, evolution, and recreation of life.

By exploring classical and quantum concepts, we discuss how synthetic biology, combined with epigenetics, ploidy variation, and quantum effects (such as coherence and tunneling) offers new possibilities for adapting and designing living systems.

This review covers a spectrum of topics, from prebiotic chemistry experiments and the construction of protocells to practical applications in regenerative medicine, bioengineering, and astrobiology.

It highlights how changes in the number of chromosome sets influence cellular plasticity and shape dynamic epigenetic environments, fostering the emergence of adaptive properties. It also explores how such factors could steer regeneration, aging, cancer development, and the expansion of life into extreme and extraplanetary environments.

Based on an integrative review of scientific literature, relevant publications were selected on topics such as biological complexity, molecular organization, and adaptive strategies, with emphasis on the convergence between natural and artificial life.

By considering the balance between disorder and order as a driving force of evolution, this review proposes that a deep understanding of life, anchored in a quantum-epigenetic perspective, is essential for its manipulation, restoration, and expansion. Thus, it suggests that the key to designing new forms of life lies in understanding complexity as the foundation for biotechnological innovation.

• Balance Between Order and Disorder: Quantum-Epigenetic Pathways for the Emergence and Continuous Evolution of Life, Acta Biotheoretica via PubMed
• Balance Between Order and Disorder: Quantum-Epigenetic Pathways for the Emergence and Continuous Evolution of Life, Acta Biotheoretica (open access)

Astrobiology,