Genes without prominence: a reappraisal of the foundations of biology

被引:30
作者
Annila, Arto [1 ,2 ]
Baverstock, Keith [3 ]
机构
[1] Univ Helsinki, Dept Biosci, Helsinki 00560, Finland
[2] Univ Helsinki, Dept Phys, Helsinki 00560, Finland
[3] Univ Eastern Finland, Dept Environm Sci, Kuopio 70211, Finland
关键词
second law of thermodynamics; free energy; entropy; attractors; epigenetics; evolution; CELL; PRINCIPLES; SYMMETRY; LIFE; VIEW;
D O I
10.1098/rsif.2013.1017
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
The sequencing of the human genome raises two intriguing questions: why has the prediction of the inheritance of common diseases from the presence of abnormal alleles proved so unrewarding in most cases and how can some 25 000 genes generate such a rich complexity evident in the human phenotype? It is proposed that light can be shed on these questions by viewing evolution and organisms as natural processes contingent on the second law of thermodynamics, equivalent to the principle of least action in its original form. Consequently, natural selection acts on variation in any mechanism that consumes energy from the environment rather than on genetic variation. According to this tenet cellular phenotype, represented by a minimum free energy attractor state comprising active gene products, has a causal role in giving rise, by a self-similar process of cell-to-cell interaction, to morphology and functionality in organisms, which, in turn, by a self-similar process entailing Darwin's proportional numbers are influencing their ecosystems. Thus, genes are merely a means of specifying polypeptides: those that serve free energy consumption in a given surroundings contribute to cellular phenotype as determined by the phenotype. In such natural processes, everything depends on everything else, and phenotypes are emergent properties of their systems.
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页数:8
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