symmetry in genetics
Jan. 9th, 2010 02:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
guslcoding for phenotypes
How do our genomes code for phenotypes that are informationally redundant, such as the fact that we have two hands, eyes, etc? Consider polydactyly: is there a mutation that can put extra fingers on one side but not the other? The occurrence of bilateral polydactyly suggests that some information gets reused between the two hands, but my understanding is that most cases are one-sided.
chirality
Why don't we observe the mirror image of DNA and proteins? Are they just as plausible? Is there an asymmetry in physics or in origins of the Earth that favoured this particular chirality? Is this evidence that life on Earth started only once?
These musings are so SFI-ish, that I'm tempted to ask CSSS alumni.
How do our genomes code for phenotypes that are informationally redundant, such as the fact that we have two hands, eyes, etc? Consider polydactyly: is there a mutation that can put extra fingers on one side but not the other? The occurrence of bilateral polydactyly suggests that some information gets reused between the two hands, but my understanding is that most cases are one-sided.
chirality
Why don't we observe the mirror image of DNA and proteins? Are they just as plausible? Is there an asymmetry in physics or in origins of the Earth that favoured this particular chirality? Is this evidence that life on Earth started only once?
These musings are so SFI-ish, that I'm tempted to ask CSSS alumni.