"Today,the notion of genes sending signals to other genes is as central as the notion of a genetic code was forty years ago. (Maynard-Smith 2000, 187–88. Also 2010 see number 42 in bibliography at bottom)
When evolution (or learning) leads to a signaling system, information is created. (Skyrms 2010, 40) "
(Source: Introduction to Calcott, B. (2014). The Creation and Reuse of Information in Gene Regulatory Networks. Philosophy of Science, 81 (5), 879–890. https://doi.org/10.1086/677687 )
Announcing a new research initiative and small project.
For a long time the central dogma of molecular biology - that information cannot pass from the phenotype to the genotype - held rigid influence over the molecular biosciences. While the central dogma still has a place, the challenge to its scope from the field of epigenetics has now taken hold in the biosciences worldwide.
It's well understood that methylation effects in the cytoplasm during certain stages of development can be transmitted (Bird, A. (2002). DNA methylation patterns and epigenetic memory. Genes & Development, 16(1), 6–21. https://doi.org/10.1101/gad.947102 ). Another well known example of epigenetic information transmission is prions, or proteinaceous infectious particles. These are the kind of non-viral and non-bacterial pathogens that cause such diseases as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease/syndrome. Because the disease agents are fragments of protein, and not genetic information like that which viruses advantage, the transmission of information in the disease is from Protein fragments to cellular DNA (Chakravarty, A. K., & Jarosz, D. F. (2018). More than Just a Phase: Prions at the Crossroads of Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolutionary Change. Journal of Molecular Biology, 430(23), 4607–4618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2018.07.017 .)
This IIMx research project, initiated and being undertaken by research director Dr Bruce Long, is aimed at identifying the best conception(s) of causation and naturalised information for application to epigenetic information transmission.
If you would like to participate by way of funding (and have IP and publishing/copyright rights at certain funding levels) please contact research.director@iimx.info or visit our Patreon funding page:
Bibliography
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Epigenetics and Methylation
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Prions and Epigenetics
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