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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

DIRECTIONAL INFORMATION FLOW. “The reductionist causal chain is then represented by upward-pointing arrows from genes upwards to proteins and RNA, to cells and tissues and ultimately the organism.” http://rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/1/55 View in LinkedIn

HIERARCHICAL THINKING. “In biological science, we are used to thinking in terms of a hierarchy of levels, with genes occupying the lowest level and the organism as a whole occupying the highest level of an individual. Protein and metabolic networks, intracellular organelles, cells, tissues, organs and systems are all represented as occupying various intermediate levels.” http://rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/1/55 View in LinkedIn

THE FIXED CENTER FALLS APART. “First, we removed the idea of privileged location (so the Earth is not the centre of the Universe), then that of absolute velocity (since only relative velocities can be observed), then that of acceleration (an accelerating body experiences a force indistinguishable from that of gravity, leading to the idea of curved space–time). Could biology be the next domain for application of the relativity principle?” http://rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/1/55 View in LinkedIn

WHERE THINGS START. “Have we reached the limits of applicability of the relativity principle? And could it have relevance to biology? By ‘relativity principle’ in this context, I mean distancing ourselves in our theories from specific absolute standpoints for which there can be no a priori justification.” http://rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/1/55 View in LinkedIn

NO BLUEPRINT EXISTS. “Even when we add in the regulatory and non-coding regions, there is no program in the genome in the sense that the sequences could be parsed in the way in which we would analyse a computer program to work out what it is specifying. The reason is that crucial parts of the program are missing.” http://rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/1/55 View in LinkedIn

KITCHEN OF TEMPLATE PLATTERS. “The protein-coding sequences are templates. They determine which set of proteins the organism has to play with, just as a child knows which pieces of Lego or Meccano she has available for construction. Those parts of the genome are best regarded as a database.” http://rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/1/55 View in LinkedIn

CATHEDERAL ORGAN. “This metaphor has its limitations. There is no ‘organist’. The ‘music of life’ plays itself, rather as some musical ensembles perform without a conductor. And, of course, the ‘organ’ varies between individuals in a species.” http://rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/1/55 View in LinkedIn

ABSURD PROPOSITION. “To think that the genome completely determines the organism is almost as absurd as thinking that the pipes in a large cathedral organ determine what the organist plays. Of course, it was the composer who did that in writing the score, and the organist himself who interprets it.” http://rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/1/55 View in LinkedIn