Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Observation (3)
The Huynen-Nimwegen curves in Fig.
14.6
that belong to living
cells (and not viruses) can be divided into two regions - the
deterministic region
showing a one-to-one correlation between GFSs (i.e., n
i
) and their frequencies
(i.e., f
i
) and the
nondeterministic
(also called
noisy
,
chaotic, unpredictable,
or
creative
) regions where there is no correlations between GFSs and their frequencies.
The boundaries between these two regions are located at the GFS values in the rage
of 10-30 genes. In other words, the Huynen-Nimwegen curves are partly determin-
istic and partly chaotic, reminiscent of the
rule-governed creativity
(
RGC
) in the
human language (Sect.
6.1.4
). Similar dichotomous behaviors were observed in the
genotypic similarity versus phenotypic distance (GSvPD) plots of the budding yeast
transcriptomics discussed in Sect.
12.11
.
One possible rationale for the unpredict-
able, chaotic, and creative regions of the Huynen-Nimwegen curves may be that
is thought to be necessary for maximizing communication among cells using cellese
(see the
Maximum Information Principle
in Ji 1997a).
Observation (4)
The exponent,
g
, of the Huynen-van Nimwegen equation, 14.31,
represents the slope of the Huynen-van Nimwegen curve of a genome. This slope
increases (i.e., becomes less negative) with increasing genome size N as evident in
Fig.
14.6
, with the possible exception of vaccinia. Focusing on cells, it is evident
that cells with smaller genomes tend to have smaller (or more negative) slopes,
indicating that
cells with smaller genome sizes utilize large gene families less
frequently than the cells with larger genome sizes.
One possible explanation for
this intriguing observation is provided by the
cell language theory
coupled with the
concepts of
equilibrons
versus
dissipatons
on the one hand and
passive
versus
active complexities
on the other. This explanation entails the following principles
and assumptions:
1. As already alluded to above, genes are analogous to
words
, a set of genes (such
as those encoding metabolic pathways) are analogous to
sentences
, and genomes
are analogous to
topics.
2. There are two aspects to words, sentences, and books just as there are two
aspects to music - the
sheet music
(which is an
equilibron
) and the
audio
music
(which is a
dissipation
, since “no energy, no sound”). These genes and
genomes can act as
equilibrons
(as when encoded in DNA, RNA, or protein
sequences) or as
dissipatons
(as when expressed as transient structures such as
molecular motors in action, ion gradients, and active metabolic pathways).
3. Gene families acting as dissipatons are the units of cell functions, not individual
genes (as frequently believed).
4. Cells embody two kinds of complexities -
passive
and
active
complexities (Sect.
enzymes for the purpose of executing gene-encoded cellular processes under a
given environmental condition constitute active complexification processes (also
5. According to the Principle of Maximum Complexity, the
active complexity
of
living systems increases with the complexity of their environment (Sect.
14.3
).
