It doesn't really. The START and STOP codons define clear cut frames for your cells to use. Think of your DNA like ECC memory. There's a bunch of extra stuff in there which makes it suitable for use as a memory storage. It has nothing to do with the actual replicated genes and their associated proteins or the role of those within the body.
The really cool part about that storage is it is environmentally sensitive. So as the environment changes around your DNA it's shape slightly changes and so the available START sites also change which alters the types and numbers of genes that are copied for use.
Biology isn't one system it's dozens all stacked and layered on top of each other. It's like trying to understand computing by watching what individual electrons do. Of course it looks messy. On the larger scale it's far more elegant.
start and stop codons are not as clear cut as you're implying (there are often several start sites), and variable splicing adds a bunch more stochasticity.
There are also 6 potential open reading frames in any span of DNA. 3 phases and two directions. You're looking at it backwards though. The fact that there are options means the DNA can have the same meaning but a different electrochemical signature. It's a structural memory. It's both your genes and the necessary gradient to cause them to arrange in your chromosomes correctly.
I read a book about the immune system and it’s actually insane how much tech debt there is in there. We have several systems, each one built a hundred million years after the previous one. Each one targets the kind of threats that were prevalent then but are still there because they haven’t completely disappeared. So much complexity, and systems can go haywire so easily - autoimmune diseases, allergic reactions and so on.
And yet, like a startup that found product market fit with a garbage tech stack, this pile of jenga spaghetti is still going strong. Complexity doesn’t matter, people dying because they looked at a peanut doesn’t matter - ultimately this spaghetti works well enough to get humans to where we are today.
Immune: A Journey Into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive By Philipp Dettmer. If you’ve heard of the Kurzgesagt channel on YouTube, it’s very similar in style.
It doesn't really. The START and STOP codons define clear cut frames for your cells to use. Think of your DNA like ECC memory. There's a bunch of extra stuff in there which makes it suitable for use as a memory storage. It has nothing to do with the actual replicated genes and their associated proteins or the role of those within the body.
The really cool part about that storage is it is environmentally sensitive. So as the environment changes around your DNA it's shape slightly changes and so the available START sites also change which alters the types and numbers of genes that are copied for use.
Biology isn't one system it's dozens all stacked and layered on top of each other. It's like trying to understand computing by watching what individual electrons do. Of course it looks messy. On the larger scale it's far more elegant.
start and stop codons are not as clear cut as you're implying (there are often several start sites), and variable splicing adds a bunch more stochasticity.
There are also 6 potential open reading frames in any span of DNA. 3 phases and two directions. You're looking at it backwards though. The fact that there are options means the DNA can have the same meaning but a different electrochemical signature. It's a structural memory. It's both your genes and the necessary gradient to cause them to arrange in your chromosomes correctly.
You call it stochastic. I call it scaffolding.
2 replies →
I read a book about the immune system and it’s actually insane how much tech debt there is in there. We have several systems, each one built a hundred million years after the previous one. Each one targets the kind of threats that were prevalent then but are still there because they haven’t completely disappeared. So much complexity, and systems can go haywire so easily - autoimmune diseases, allergic reactions and so on.
And yet, like a startup that found product market fit with a garbage tech stack, this pile of jenga spaghetti is still going strong. Complexity doesn’t matter, people dying because they looked at a peanut doesn’t matter - ultimately this spaghetti works well enough to get humans to where we are today.
Great comment, which book did you read?
Immune: A Journey Into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive By Philipp Dettmer. If you’ve heard of the Kurzgesagt channel on YouTube, it’s very similar in style.
https://www.philippdettmer.net/immune
We just haven't found God's IDE yet
Maybe this: https://teselagen.com/
Nice list here: https://github.com/davidliwei/awesome-CRISPR
from primordial_chaos import Universe
# TODO: This is a complete hack that needs to be refactored, but it works for now.
def quantum_physics() -> Universe:
well, if we look at in-memory processes or kernel, or on data on HDD disk tracks, it's kinda also awfully resembles spaghetti :)