Genes after the human genome project.
While the Human Genome Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) concept of the gene can accommodate a wide variety of genomic sequences contributing to phenotypic outcomes, it fails to specify how sequences should be grouped when dealing with complex loci consisting of adjacent/overlapping sequences contributing to the same phenotype, distant sequences shown to contribute to the same gene product, and partially overlapping sequences identified by different techniques. The purpose of this paper is to review recently proposed concepts of the gene and critically assess how well they succeed in addressing the above problems while preserving the degree of generality achieved by the HGNC concept. I conclude that a dynamic interplay between mapping and syntax-based concepts is required in order to satisfy these desiderata.
Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland, 1107D Skinner Building, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. tbaetu@hotmail.com
Tudor M
TM
Baetu
D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003210:Concept Formation; D005796:Genes; D056426:Genetic Loci; D015894:Genome, Human; D016045:Human Genome Project; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype