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CIRCUIT TRANSISTORS. "The molecular circuits of life that recognize or give rise to natural products are highly complex and interconnected with the circuits that are responsive to developmental and environmental controls. Natural products often function as "transistors" to switch on or switch off these circuits." https://lnkd.in/dEpJBda View in LinkedIn

SELF-MODIFYING CODE. "In computer science, self-modifying code is code that alters its own instructions while it is executing - usually to reduce the instruction path length and improve performance or simply to reduce otherwise repetitively similar code, thus simplifying maintenance. Self modification is an alternative to the method of "flag setting" and conditional program branching, used primarily to reduce the number of times a condition needs to be tested” https://lnkd.in/ddCjHJk View in LinkedIn

SUPERCLUSTER MIXERS. "Preliminary data suggests that one organizational mechanism makes use of transposons to duplicate or move DNA segments (that code for protein domains) into existing biosynthetic genes. This mechanism could move new genes into existing natural product gene clusters or could move an entire gene cluster of one natural product class...close to that of another class, such that the expression of the "supercluster" becomes coupled and gives rise to a hybrid-type natural product." https://lnkd.in/dEpJBda View in LinkedIn

SELF-REPLICATING CODE LOOPS. "He knew that even then that working from many interactions -- from the bottom up -- it was possible to yield the sort of complex interactions that nature pulls off all the time." https://lnkd.in/dJpC_P3 View in LinkedIn

MOBILE GENETIC ELEMENTS. "What of the many natural products that arise through a mixing of biosynthetic pathways? The data are scant but what is available is suggestive of yet a higher state of organization -- a super-cluster brought about through the action of moveable genetic elements, transposons." https://lnkd.in/dEpJBda View in LinkedIn

VAST INCREASE IN SPEED. "Ten years ago, this program would not have succeeded within any reasonable amount of time. Five years ago, this program would likely have taken days to weeks, possibly even longer. Today, the execution took a matter of minutes. Tomorrow, the program might run in milliseconds." https://lnkd.in/ddNuyJD View in LinkedIn

POLYKETIDE SYNTHESASES. "Single giant proteins with multiple catalytic domains, repeated in modules, oligomerize and transform small units to build up complex natural products. These varied enzymatic properties ensure overall catalytic plasticity in the world of natural products." https://lnkd.in/dEpJBda View in LinkedIn

BUT NOT QUITE RASA. "As with all genetic algorithms, there was work involved with designing the fitness function. The fitness function is equivalent to describing to the AI what you’re looking for. In this way, creating the fitness function itself, is a bit like programming (on behalf of the human). If it were possible for the AI to develop its own fitness function, this would be a step forward." https://lnkd.in/ddNuyJD View in LinkedIn

LACK OF EUKARYOTIC LOGIC. "One of the striking differences between this arrangement in prokaryotes and that found in eukaryotes is that typically, not only are the genes of metabolic pathways in eukaryotes not organized in clusters, but they are often located on different chromosomes. Thus, unlike the metabolic genes of prokaryotes, those of eukaryotes are not organized spatially." https://lnkd.in/dEpJBda View in LinkedIn

PROKARYOTE LOGIC. "Not only are the genes aligned sequentially...but they are also usually aligned along the same direction in the DNA strand." https://lnkd.in/dEpJBda View in LinkedIn