Organic codes: Metaphors or realities?

Coding characteristics have been discovered not only in protein synthesis, but also in various other natural processes, thus showing that the genetic code is not an isolated case in the organic world. Other examples are the sequence codes, the adhesion code, the signal transduction codes, the splici...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sign Systems Studies Vol. 30; no. 2; pp. 743 - 755
Main Author: Barbieri, Marcello
Format: Article
Published: University of Tartu 2002
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=90641928&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: hlh
    uiTerm: 90641928
    longDbName: Humanities International Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        14064243
        DSW
      jtl: Sign Systems Studies
      issn: 14064243
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: 2002
      vid: 30
      iid: 2
      pid: 25096
      pub: University of Tartu
    artinfo:
      ui:
        90641928
        10.12697/sss.2002.30.2.23
      ppf: 743
      ppct: 12
      formats:
        fmt:
          @attributes:
            type: P
            size: 214KB
      tig:
        atl: Organic codes: Metaphors or realities?
      aug:
        au: Barbieri, Marcello
        affil: Department of Morphology and Embryology, University of Ferrara Via Fossato di Mortara 64, 44100 Ferrara, Italy
      su:
        Metaphor
        Genetic code
        Cellular signal transduction
        Living systems theory
        Histones
      sug:
        subj:
          Metaphor
          Genetic code
          Cellular signal transduction
          Living systems theory
          Histones
      ab:
        Coding characteristics have been discovered not only in protein synthesis, but also in various other natural processes, thus showing that the genetic code is not an isolated case in the organic world. Other examples are the sequence codes, the adhesion code, the signal transduction codes, the splicing codes, the sugar code, the histone code, and probably more. These discoveries however have not had a significant impact because of the widespread belief that organic codes are not real but metaphorical entities. They are supposed to lack arbitrariness and codemakers, the two qualifying features of real codes. Here it is shown that the arbitrariness issue can be solved on an experimental basis, while the codemaker issue is dependent on our theoretical description of the cell and can only be solved by a new concept. In order to appreciate the reality of the organic codes, in short, it is necessary to have not only a more critical evaluation of the experimental data but also a new theory of the living system.
        Kodeerimise tunnuseid pole leitud ainult valgusünteesis, vaid ka mitmetes teistes eluslooduse protsessides. See tÕendab, et geneetiline kood pole erandlik juhtum orgaanilises maailmas. Teisteks näideteks on järjestuskoodid, adhesiooni kood, signaali transduktsiooni kood, splaissingu koodid, suhkrute kood, histoonide kood ja ilmselt veelgi. Neil avastustel pole siiski olnud märkimisväärset mÕju laialt levinud uskumuse tÕttu, et orgaanilised koodid pole mitte tÕelised, vaid on pigem metafoorsed. Arvatakse, et neil puuduvad arbitraarsus ja koodi moodustajad - kaks reaalsete koodide tunnust. Käesolevas töös näidatakse, et arbitraarsuse küsimuse saab lahendada eksperimentaalsel alusel, samas kui koodi moodustaja küsimus sÕltub raku teoreetilisest kirjeldusest ning on lahendatav vaid uue mÕisteaparaadi kaasabil. Niisiis, orgaaniliste koodide tunnustamiseks on vaja mitte ainult eksperimentaalse andmestiku kriitilisemat hindamist, vaid ka elussüsteemi uut teooriat.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: Y
      custom: Copyright of Sign Systems Studies is the property of University of Tartu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
      item: Sign Systems Studies
      holder: University of Tartu
      dt:
        @attributes:
          year: 2002
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N