title: The relativity of biological function.
abstract: Function is a central concept in biological theories and explanations. Yet discussions about function are often based on a narrow understanding of biological systems and processes, such as idealized molecular systems or simple evolutionary, i.e., selective, dynamics. Conflicting conceptions of function continue to be used in the scientific literature to support certain claims, for instance about the fraction of "functional DNA" in the human genome. Here we argue that all biologically meaningful interpretations of function are necessarily context dependent. This implies that they derive their meaning as well as their range of applicability only within a specific theoretical and measurement context. We use this framework to shed light on the current debate about functional DNA and argue that without considering explicitly the theoretical and measurement contexts all attempts to integrate biological theories are prone to fail.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4501, USA. manfred.laubichler@asu.edu.|Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, USA. manfred.laubichler@asu.edu.|Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Rd, Santa Fe, NM, 87501, USA. manfred.laubichler@asu.edu.
authors.forename: Manfred D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Laubichler
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Group at the Department of Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Center of Bioinformatics, LIFE - Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, and German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research, University Leipzig, Härtelstraβe 16-18, 04107, Leipzig, Germany. studla@bioinf.uni-leipzig.de.|Max-Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Inselstraße 22, 04103, Leipzig, Germany. studla@bioinf.uni-leipzig.de.|Fraunhofer Institut für Zelltherapie und Immunologie - IZI, Perlickstraße 1, 04103, Leipzig, Germany. studla@bioinf.uni-leipzig.de.|Department of Theoretical Chemistry, University of Vienna, Währingerstraße 17, 1090, Wien, Austria. studla@bioinf.uni-leipzig.de.|Center for non-coding RNA in Technology and Health, University of Copenhagen, Grønnegårdsvej 3, 1870, Frederiksberg C, Denmark. studla@bioinf.uni-leipzig.de.|Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Rd, Santa Fe, NM, 87501, USA. studla@bioinf.uni-leipzig.de.
authors.forename: Peter F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Stadler
authors.affiliation: Computational EvoDevo Group, Department of Computer Science and Interdisciplinary Center of Bioinformatics, University Leipzig, Härtelstraβe 16-18, 04107, Leipzig, Germany. sonja@bioinf.uni-leipzig.de.
authors.forename: Sonja J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Prohaska
authors.affiliation: TFome Research Group at Department of Computer Science, Paul-Flechsig-Institute for Brain Research, and Interdisciplinary Center of Bioinformatics, University Leipzig, Härtelstraβe 16-18, 04107, Leipzig, Germany. katja@bioinf.uni-leipzig.de.
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nowick
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000502:physiology*; D016678:Genome / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological
chemical_list: D004247:DNA
keywords: Biological function; Biological theory; Coarse graining; ENCODE; Theory integration