Why Dna?: From DNA Sequence to Biological Complexity

ISBN-13: 9781107697522 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022 / 300 str.

Andrew (University of Cambridge) Travers

Opis

Describes how the physical chemistry of the DNA molecule links biological complexity, information flux and evolution to energy.

Recenzje

'In What Is Life? Schrödinger conjectured that, in animate matter, order is derived from order, foreshadowing the discovery of DNA structure. Why DNA? is about this molecule and its dual information content - in linear genetic code and in thermodynamics of three-dimensional DNA structures. It addresses how DNA's intrinsic order led to complex, highly ordered living organisms, in a world that strives towards disorder. Why would DNA supplant RNA in carrying hereditary information during biological evolution? Why did multicellular organisms emerge, since natural selection favours the fittest, such as simple bacteria? What is complexity, and what has it to do with Bayesian logic? How do complexity, information and energy interrelate? This is a succinct discourse on Schrödinger's question, expanding from molecular interactions and genome cooperation to ecological systems and societal evolution. A must-read for biology scholars, and anyone interested in life's origins, biological evolution and the interface of biology and physics.' Georgi Muskhelishvili, Agricultural University of Georgia, Tbilisi

Spis treści

Acknowledgements; Preface; 1. The perennial question; 2. The nature of information – information, complexity and entropy; 3. DNA – the molecule; 4. The evolution of biological complexity; 5. Cooperating genomes; 6. DNA, information and complexity; 7. Origins; 8. The complexity of societies; 9. Why DNA – and not RNA?; General reading and bibliography.