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Mitotic Bookmarking Facilitates Transmission of Genetic Programming

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As you read this many of the cells in your body are in a gradual process of division which results in the production of two daughter cells. In this process, known as mitosis, the cell duplicates its contents, including its DNA, before dividing. But the hardware is only part of a cell. Like a computer the cell contains programming information. For instance, tiny chemical signals—methyl groups—may be added to certain proteins or DNA sequences. You can read here about one way that this programming information is passed on to later generations. New research is now elucidating a different mechanism for preserving the cell’s programming information.  Read more
Comments
Per 2-4, wouldn't it be better to talk about the physical structure of the cell as 'hardware' and not the DNA? It seems to me, by way of analogy, that the DNA signal processing of the cell acts as a DOS, the physical components of the cell, e.g., mitochondria, vesicles, membrance transport, etc., are the actual hardware, and the DNA is the proprietary software. As to the original post, if you look at PhysOrg. com for yesterday, you'll see that they've identified another 'genetic code' within the DNA which relates to transcription factors. The authors say you don't have to run tests to find out what is being transcribed, just read out the DNA. So, DNA has a code in the normal direction, in the anti-sense direction, and within that, a code for transcription---and all of this by 'random' processes!! Isn't that an awful lot to have to swallow?! Again, ID is a science project, not a religious one. Darwinism doesn't make any sense. Why can't we move on?!PaV
April 17, 2010
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Dr Hunter, We constantly modify our software or data in our computers, but less often change the computer itself. True, but I don't think that is a good analogy to epigenetic features such as methylation. If we think only of the methylation marks of germ cells, do they change much more frequently than the DNA they ride on? It does seem that they are easier to change than the DNA sequence itself.Nakashima
April 12, 2010
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Nakashima:
In what sense is a methyl group not ‘hardware’, just as DNA is hardware?
The sense I was thinking of was that epigenetic "programming" is more transient. That is, it changes on a faster time scale. We constantly modify our software or data in our computers, but less often change the computer itself.Cornelius Hunter
April 12, 2010
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In what sense is a methyl group not 'hardware', just as DNA is hardware?Nakashima
April 12, 2010
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Here is a video that, though not of the detail you describe, goes along with yout article: DNA Wrapping (Histone Protein - Wrapping to Cell Division)- video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbSIBhFwQ4sbornagain77
April 12, 2010
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