title: What Is a Genome?
abstract: The genome is often described as the information repository of an organism. Whether millions or billions of letters of DNA, its transmission across generations confers the principal medium for inheritance of organismal traits. Several emerging areas of research demonstrate that this definition is an oversimplification. Here, we explore ways in which a deeper understanding of genomic diversity and cell physiology is challenging the concepts of physical permanence attached to the genome as well as its role as the sole information source for an organism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, United States of America.
authors.forename: Aaron David
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Goldman
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America.|Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics and Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Laura F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Landweber
mesh_terms: D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018503:Genome, Protozoan; D016813:Oxytricha / Q000235:genetics; D010641:Phenotype