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Author
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Topic: Redundancy in DNA Information
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Glenn S. Gordon
Member
Member # 217
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posted 15. April 2002 15:58
Looking at the 2 DNA basepair sequence which follows...
A-T
G-C
Is the information redundant?
If we had
A
G
we can assume that the other half would be
T
C
Why then is it necessary that DNA be constructed of this seemingly redundant instruction? Does it have to do with mitosis?
Thanks,
Glenn
[ 15 April 2002, 20:54: Message edited by: Moderator ]
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fish
Member
Member # 213
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posted 15. April 2002 16:14
Thats an uncommonly easy question!
Yes indeed. During mitosis, each strand is used to synthesise another.
Also, having redundant information gives a chance to repair errors due to chemical damage for example.
[ 15 April 2002, 16:15: Message edited by: fish ]
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Moderator
Administrator
Member # 1
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posted 15. April 2002 20:53
Dear Glenn,
Thanks for your interest in the subject. I think you may have gotten a reasonable response above. However, please note in the future that ISCID is trying to make Brainstorms unique in that it does not function as a general discussion board. There are better boards for general questions pertaining to biology, Intelligent Design, etc. (see www.arn.org). The purpose of Brainstorms is to allow the development of positive research in complex systems from information and design theoretic perspectives.
I see a positive direction that this thread can move toward, so I will leave it open. The focus from here on out should be on the purpose of redundancy in DNA information.
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rafe gutman
Member
Member # 134
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posted 18. April 2002 02:20
taking a step back from DS DNA, one possible function for the redundancy of a diploid genome is that it provides a buffer for loss-of-function mutations, but not gain-of-function. potentially detrimental recessive mutations are not expressed in the phenotype while beneficial dominant mutations are. in a population of organisms, this would allow the opportunity for beneficial mutations to arise before a gene duplication creates a new locus for the mutated gene.
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