Genome complexity: 3-D DNA contortions ad complexity (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, November 04, 2018, 18:35 (2212 days ago) @ dhw

QUOTE: Who’s driving the bus in cellular metabolism?” said Sumners. “It’s a very dynamic process — DNA and proteins each influences how the other acts and reacts.'”

DAVID: This 3-D dance in cells is constant as life maintains its balance or homeostasis. It has to be automatically making necessary choices or life's processes could be scrambled by imperfect reactions. Bit by bit we are unearthing the hidden layers of genome complexity, but there is one item we don't understand at all: we may know what gene controls what process or event, but we have no idea how it exerts its control. Finding the code for protein production was only a tiny step in understanding how complex the genome actually is.

dhw: Thank you for another important article. “We have no idea how it exerts its control” is fair comment, but it doesn’t have to be AUTOMATICALLY making necessary choices. The cell/cell communities could simply be making necessary choices. Macrocosm and microcosm: macrocosmic humans and to a lesser degree our fellow animals autonomously use what we call the mind to make intelligent choices (“drive the bus”), although we have no idea what actually constitutes the mind or “how it exerts its control”. Some scientists would say the same about microcosmic cells and cell communities. That doesn't mean they have a human/animal mind - just their own particular form of intelligence. If you would only stop inserting "automatically" in your comments, I wouldn't have to indulge in all this repetition!

Why stop when it is what I believe from the chemical evidence? Life requires constant maintenance which means exact repetition, which means automatic. Your kidney controls sodium levels in the blood exactly in a tiny range of value. The decisions are automatic, not simply necessary, which really means automatic. Stop playing with words that don't change what is obvious.