Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
the cell, is the result of the evolutionary history of the organism.
The genomic structure does not act like a deterministic genetic
programme, but determines the probabilities of gene expression
during embryogenesis. Computer simulation demonstrates that
ontophylogenesis is endowed with the general properties
expected of a theory of embryogenesis, particularly the creation
of organised cell tissues, and also suggests that cancer should
be understood in a new light. Biological organisation is pro-
duced by equilibrium between the selective constraints exerted
on the organism and the stochastic character of the interactions
between molecules, particularly those which induce gene
expression. Cancer is produced as a result of imbalance between
these two components of ontophylogenesis.
Genetic determinism is trapped by the contradiction within it. It
has to call on cell structure to sort the interactions between non-
specific molecules, but since, according to this theory, it is the genes
that direct the way living organisms are constructed, the structure
itself must be the product of these interactions. Holism provides no
solution to this problem, other than evoking the emergence of cell
structure
ex nihilo
. We must therefore pursue our search for another
principle.
In solving a scientific problem one must not be afraid of draw-
ing the most extreme consequences from experimental facts, even if
they challenge the current theory. Its coherence is initially
destroyed but later a new theory is devised which is even more rel-
evant. The theoretical work consists in reinterpreting already
known experimental facts in a new conceptual context. This is the
path we shall follow now. We have to accept both the consequences
of the non-specificity of the interactions between molecules and the
role of cell structure, while going as far as possible with the analy-
sis in order to unearth the significance of these experimental facts.
For holism, the structure of the cell is a whole produced by emer-
gence, but evolutionary biology sees it as the result of its history dur-
ing which it was fashioned generation after generation by natural
