Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 4.3
A (circle) tree representing the genetic code
intermediate role is crucial for a clear distinction between information and action.
The passage from an informative level to the active level cannot be direct and auto-
matic, it has to be modulated according to the specific context and the global state
of the cell, because no any kind of information has to be important/relevant/useful in
any situation. The IM-molecules realize the need of making active, in a given con-
text, the information stored in DNA. When IM-molecules are produced, some of them
are R-molecules having specific regulation functions, while others are converted into
M-molecules. Their conversion into M-molecules is automatically performed by spe-
cific transducers, or T-molecules (which in real cells are ribosomes, molecular ma-
chine constituted by RNA and proteins). Therefore, some M-molecules play specific
roles among the seven functions of proteins, but a crucial role is the regulation role
activating the transcription phenomenon. This means that some M-molecules deter-
mine the active state of I-molecules and the speed/intensity of the transcriptional
mechanism according to a complex network of interferences (possibly at many lev-
els) which define a complex cycle of transcription regulation: the activation of I-
molecules depends on the kinds and the amounts of M-molecules translated in the
current context. But vice versa, the types and the amounts of M-molecules which
are translated depend on the kinds of I-molecules activated and on the amounts of
