Mechanisms involved in living systems organisation, especially the programming necessary to enable the construction of individuals in three dimensions.
The complexity of the organization of living systems escalates by orders of magnitude in the development, from single precursor cells, not only of the three-dimensional structures characterizing each species but also in the variations necessary to accommodate the 1 million or more separate and identifiable species on this planet. Although the genetic information controlling such information is currently considered to reside in cellular DNA, it is also held that such information is restricted to a linear form encoding specifically for protein. However, this not only fails to explain the co-ordination of the vast number of processes occurring in simple, single cell, organisms, but also the integration of cellular activities to serve the interest of the total system. In particular how can a homeobox containing only genes encoding specifically for proteins organize and implement the mechanisms necessary for three-dimensional development? This, and the organization and implementation of the massive amount of information necessary to execute the construction of such a wide range of species, each in its own unique and exquisite detail, calls for internal programming of a highly complex and sophisticated nature. It is proposed here that such a central computer-analog program does exist, housed in the molecular electronic structure of cellular nucleic acid, primarily in DNA: its possible nature is discussed. Since precursor cells contain only of the order of 10(-10) g of DNA, this proposal involves an increase in information storage efficiency comparable with that already achieved by silicon microprocessors over mechanical calculators.
Adams
D H
DH
Division of Life Sciences, Kings College, London, UK.
Gahan
P B
PB
D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology
D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA