Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Conclusion:
A Research Programme and Ethical
Principle based on Ontophylogenesis
We have analysed the main points of genetic determinism and seen
that it is controlled by what Schrödinger called the principle of
order from order. Order is supposed to be inherent in the living
organism and expressed in the relationships between the molecules.
This order is said to be encoded in the genetic information of the
DNA and brought into play by the property of molecular stere-
ospecificity. According to this conception, the proteins unequivo-
cally interact with each other, this interaction being determined by
their three-dimensional structure. They fit together like pieces of a
puzzle to create the organism, with nothing left to chance. This
stereospecificity is necessary for the determinism of the genes to be
expressed at macroscopic level in the phenotypic characteristics.
We have seen that throughout the second half of the 20th cen-
tury, the research programme undertaken by molecular biologists
resulted in a very large number of genes and proteins being isolated
that are involved in numerous normal or pathological cellular
processes, such as gene expression, signalling and cancer. The inter-
action properties of these proteins with other molecular partners
were analysed, and it then appeared that, contrary to the predic-
tions made, these proteins are not stereospecific. More recently,
global networks of molecular interactions have been analysed for
several species, the results of these studies confirming the impor-
tance of molecular non-specificity. Many proteins can interact with
more than a hundred partners, which implies that all biological
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