Category: Uncategorized

A BLUEPRINT FOR LIFE? “Are organisms encoded as molecular descriptions in their genes?’ And, second, ‘by analysing the genome, could we solve the forward problem of computing the behaviour of the system from this information, as was implied by the original idea of the “genetic program” and the more modern representation of the genome as the “book of life”?...The answer to both questions was ‘no’.” https://lnkd.in/dAdQzhV View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE features the thinking of Professor Denis Nobel, the brilliant polymath Oxford University academic, in his article entitled: “A theory of biological relativity: no privileged level of causation.” Denis Nobel is an exceptional and original thinker. Enjoy these philosophical ruminations. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Noble View in LinkedIn

LIFE SPAN VS FECUNDITY. "AP has also been tested in a long-running experiment using artificial selection for increased life span in Drosophila flies. After two years of selection, life span increased, while early fecundity declined, which corroborates the AP hypothesis. After further selection however, life span continued to rise, while fecundity also rose at all ages, including early in life." (AP = antagonistic pleiotrophy hypothesis). View in LinkedIn

NEGATIVE CORRELATION. "Various methods of preventing reproduction can extend life span, and reproductive effort is negatively correlated with life span across species." View in LinkedIn

THE TRADE-OFF GAME. "In Pacific salmon and the marsupial Antechinus stuartii, the ability to exploit tissue protein as an energy reserve may increase reproductive success. In Octopus, the behavioral effects of optic gland secretion are likely to have an impact on hatching success, as time spent feeding is time not spent on brood care. In semelparous plants, a trade-off between survival and reproduction is supported by both experimental and comparative evidence." View in LinkedIn

GOING FOR BUST. "In vertebrates, for example, the high levels of free corticosteroids that trigger rapid senescence and death also allow tissue protein to be consumed as an energy source during a brief and intensely competitive breeding season." View in LinkedIn

TEMPLATED WORLD. “So what does the genome cause? The coding sequences form a list of proteins and RNAs that might be made in a given organism. These parts of the genome form a database of templates.” http://rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/1/55 View in LinkedIn

APPARENT GENE PRIMACY. “The sequences of DNA triplets form templates for the production of different amino acid sequences in proteins. Amino acid sequences do not form templates for the production of DNA sequences. That, in essence, is what was shown. The template works in only one direction, which makes the gene appear primary.” http://rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/1/55 View in LinkedIn

CENTRAL DOGMA OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY. “The essence of the central dogma is that ‘coding’ between genes and proteins is one-way.” http://rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/1/55 View in LinkedIn

METAPHORICAL BIAS. “Does the metaphorical nature of the way we represent upward and downward causation matter? The bias introduced by the metaphor is that there is a strong tendency to represent the lower levels as somehow more concrete. Many areas of science have proceeded by unravelling the small elements underlying the larger ones. But notice the bias already creeping in through the word ‘underlying’ in the sentence I have just written.” http://rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/1/55 View in LinkedIn