The New Genetics and Natural versus Artificial Genetic Modification

The original rationale and impetus for artificial genetic modification was the “central dogma” of molecular biology that assumed DNA carries all the instructions for making an organism, which are transmitted via RNA to protein to biological function in linear causal chains. This is contrary to the r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Entropy 2013-11, Vol.15 (11), p.4748-4781
Main Author: Ho, Mae-Wan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
biosemiotics
central dogma
circular causation
fluid genome
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Summary:The original rationale and impetus for artificial genetic modification was the “central dogma” of molecular biology that assumed DNA carries all the instructions for making an organism, which are transmitted via RNA to protein to biological function in linear causal chains. This is contrary to the reality of the “fluid genome” that has emerged since the mid-1970s. In order to survive, the organism needs to engage in natural genetic modification in real time, an exquisitely precise molecular dance of life with RNA and DNA responding to and participating in “downstream” biological functions. Artificial genetic modification, in contrast, is crude, imprecise, and interferes with the natural process. It drives natural systems towards maximum biosemiotic entropy as the perturbations are propagated and amplified through the complex cascades of interactions between subsystems that are essential for health and longevity.
ISSN:1099-4300
1099-4300
DOI:10.3390/e15114748