Seven fundamental, unsolved questions in molecular biology. Cooperative storage and bi-directional transfer of biological information by nucleic acids and proteins: an alternative to "central dogma".
The Human Genome Mapping Project provided us a large amount of sequence data. However our understanding of these data did not grow proportionally, because old dogmas still set the limits of our thinking. The gene-centric, reductionistical side of molecular biology is reviewed and seven problems are formulated, each indicating the insufficiency of the "central dogma". The following is concluded and suggested: 1. Genes are located and expressed on both DNA strands; 2. Introns are the source of important biological regulation and diversity; 3. Repeats are the frame of the chromatin structure and participate in the chromatin regulation; 4. The molecular accessibility of the canonical dsDNA structure is poor; 5. The genetic code is co-evolved with the amino acids and there is a stereochemical matching between the codes andamino acids; 6. The flow of information between nucleic acids and proteins is bi-directional and reverse translation might exist; 7. Complex genetic information is always carried and stored by nucleic acids and proteins together.
Biro
J C
JC
Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. jan.biro@sbcglobal.net
D000818:Animals; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D005815:Genetic Code / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000379:methods*; D009696:Nucleic Acids / Q000235:genetics*; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*
D009696:Nucleic Acids; D011506:Proteins