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0 pointsTuna-Fish4y ago0 comments

Yes. Another important metaphor is that the common idea of DNA as blueprints is entirely wrong. It's not blueprints, it's a recipe. A blueprint describes what something is. A recipe describes the steps needed to make something, making use of a lot of complex existing machinery and parts with only a reference to them.

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mattkrause4y ago

The nucleotide sequence is obviously important, but people also sometimes forget that DNA and RNA are real things with 3D structure too. That matters too: it’s as if builders make errors where the blueprint rolls up or pages stick together.

The whole thing is absolutely fascinating and wild.

wubbfindel4y ago

Interesting reasoning. But isn't it true to say that the "complex existing machinery and parts" which interprets the DNA was itself put together from instructions found in other DNA? I suppose that metaphors are rarely entirely comparable.

Tuna-FishOP4y ago

Some of that machinery and parts isn't directly represented by DNA. As an example, DNA codes some proteins that help extend cell walls, but those only work if you already have cell walls. If you have only the full DNA for a cell, and no other knowledge, you cannot build that cell out of that.

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